Half Moon Bay’s Love Affair with Pumpkins
by Mary Knippel
While they have proven their popularity in pie, bread and even soup and ice cream, pumpkins prove their versatility throughout the year on the Coastside as inspiration for art to wear, admire and absorb.
Barbara Grauke with her blown-glass pumpkins.
Own a genuine glass pumpkin instead of settling for a copy of Cinderella’s glass slipper. “My very first experience was in a workshop with Dale Chihuly [the most famous glass artist living today] and I just loved hot glass,” said Barbara Grauke, who is co-owner of Moonside Bakery, when I stopped by to view her intricate work. She studied the labor-intensive craft for several years, working in front of a furnace of 2000 degrees, but then took a long hiatus as a wife, mother, and then a baker’s wife and business owner. When her last child went off to college about a year ago, the self-taught artist felt the urge to get back to her art. Now, once a week she goes to a public access studio and produces textured gourds in a variety of hues and sizes with delicate tendrils. “After all, we are the self-proclaimed pumpkin capital,” Grauke said, “so I do a blown pumpkin and wine stoppers and solid paperweights. I get to work with a large pallet of colors. One day I’ll do blues and greens, then the next day I’ll do purples and reds. I’m having a good time with it.”
Christina Frediani at her blending bar.
Pumpkin as a beauty ingredient — you can bathe with it as well as nourish your skin with it, so consider a trip to the grocery store or farmers market for a pumpkin instead of heading to the cosmetics counter. “Pumpkin is high in many nutrients that are good for the outside as well as the inside of your body,” said Christina Frediani, owner of Coastal Comforts on Half Moon Bay’s Main Street. Pumpkin contains vitamin A, which acts as a cleanser; vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant; alpha hydroxy acids, which help exfoliate dead skin cells; and zinc, which helps soothe irritated skin. “We can create your own signature scent at our blending bar by mixing perfume and/or essential oils into body lotion, scrubs, bath gels, and bath salts. We even have little pumpkins floating in our bath salts,” Frediani said; when the pumpkins dissolve, they add a burst of vanilla scent to your bath. For a little extra spice, she suggests adding some cinnamon to the pumpkin bath salts. Or add some fizz, foam and moisturizing to your bubble bath with a bath bomb cupcake. The cupcakes are delicious to look at, will melt in your tub, and lather up your skin without those nasty added calories.
Baby Hat by Brooke Tankle Designs.
Make a fashion statement with pumpkin clothing! “Every baby needs a hat, and there’s nothing cuter than a baby in a pumpkin hat,” said Brooke Tankle, a La Honda resident who specializes in wearable art. “I’ve been knitting as an art form for about three years. I started by making baby hats and when the season came around, I just decided to do pumpkins.” Tankle makes her own designs and embellishes her unique creations with beads and fun tassels. Brooke Tankle Designs, including pumpkin hats for babies, children and adults, may be found at Personal FX, a combination gallery and showroom of distinctive treasures, on Half Moon Bay’s Main Street.
Add a distinctive collectable to that ever-expanding pin collection on a favorite fishing vest or weathered baseball cap with a Half Moon Bay lapel pin. Coastsiders and visitors in search of a petite yet precise replica of our beautiful landscape need look no further than this bit of whimsy designed by Sheila Edwards-May, owner of Tokenz at 524 Main St., Half Moon Bay. “We’ve sold thousands of these pins over the years,” Edwards-May said as she held the novelty item for me to inspect. “It contains all the elements the Coastside is famous for: a pumpkin, a half moon, a hill, waves, stars and the beach.”
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