Smokey Bear Jack O’Lantern

Smokey Jack O'Lantern
Smokey Jack O’Lantern by Crystal Fajt, October, 2014.

Would you like to have Smokey Bear looking at your trick or treaters from a Halloween Jack O’Lantern?  Here’s how, thanks to the Virginia Department of Forestry:
Print this stencil, which looks like this, below:

smokey stencil halloween

Then:

Option #1

  1. Cut out the “black pieces” from the stencil sheet, using an x-acto knife or similar tool.
  2. Tape stencil sheet onto pumpkin.
  3. Use a fine-line marker and draw the image ‘through the holes” onto the pumpkin.
  4. Cut these pieces away from the pumpkin.

Or, Option #2

  1. Tape the stencil onto the pumpkin.
  2. Using a pin or other sharp tipped tool “pin-prick” the edge of all the black portions of the stencil.
  3. Remove the stencil, and connect the dots/pin-pricks with a marker.
  4. Cut these pieces away from the pumpkin.

And,
5. Send us a photo of your result. (We will post some of them.)

Bambi and wildfire, 1942 and 1964

The 1942 movie Bambi (see the fire scene above) and a 1964 public service announcement featuring Smokey Bear and Bambi (below), influenced a couple of generations, making it difficult for the public to think of fire in the forest as anything other than a terrible menace that to be defeated, prevented, or immediately suppressed at any cost. The struggle to accept prescribed fire as a legitimate forest management practice continues to this day.

Smokey Bear’s historical video reel

The video above shows some historical examples of how Smokey Bear has appeared in public service announcements.

Below is a new version of a Smokey Bear song.

The original Smokey Bear song was the genesis of a misunderstanding of Smokey’s middle name: “The”. A songwriter added it because he thought it was needed in the phraseology of the music. But Smokey does not have a middle name. He is SMOKEY BEAR.

Smokey Bear snow sculpture

Smokey Bear snow sculpture

Employees of the Huron-Manistee National Forest in Michigan teamed up with employees of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to make a Smokey Bear ice sculpture for the 2015 North American Snowmobile Festival in Cadillac. U.S. Forest Service photo.

And speaking of Smokey, here is a classic poster from the 1990s.

Smokey Bear poster 1990s