Dublin artist creates 400-pound Taylor Swift pumpkin

For The last 35 years, a Columbus-area artist has transformed gigantic personalities into even larger pumpkins.

Operating under the name Paras Pumpkins, Dublin painter Jeanette Paras creates a portrait of a famous individual directly onto a massive pumpkin every year just before Halloween, which are set on display in front of her house.

Previous years have featured everything from Baby Yoda to a 700-pound Ted Lasso pumpkin, and even Kim Jong Un. This year, however, it’s Taylor on display.

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For Halloween 2023, Paras has created a 399-pound pumpkin painting of Taylor Swift, known as Taylor SwiftKin. To complete this year’s pumpkin, Paras crafted a massive pair of earrings identical to Swift’s in the photo she used as a model (Paras has her own matching pair as well). A football with the number 87 (worn by Travis Kelce of the Kansas Chiefs, who is currently in the midst of a public relationship with Swift), in addition to the letters NPL, is part of the display as well.

“Yes, that stands for the National Pumpkin League,” she told 614Now.

Paras explained that to select her subject each year, she picks an individual who is who is currently in the spotlight, whether it be a celebrity, global leader, or fictional character.

“With so much going on in the news today, much of it disturbing, Taylor SwiftKin stood out. I considered ‘pumpkinizing’ others, but Taylor is a bright star in today’s pop culture,” said Paras in a press release, “And then, when she was romantically linked to two-time Super Bowl champion Travis Kelce, that certainly made her more interesting. As I like to say, I don’t make the news, I pumpkinize it.”

This year’s pumpkin is about average size for Paras’ creations, although she has created pumpkins (which are grown by Jason Johnson and Kurt Rossbach at OCLC in Dublin) up to 1,200 pounds.

Paras, who lives in Dublin, displays the pumpkin on her porch each year. You can also see this year’s pumpkin and pumpkins from previous years on her social media pages and her website.

Even more, the local giant pumpkin artist is doing her part to support a good cause. As a two-time breast cancer “thriver,” Paras has partnered with the Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research at The Ohio State University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center to field donations.

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