SEARCHING FOR ELUSIVE 'PERFECT' PUMPKIN'.

Byline: Nicholas Grudin Staff Writer

In a sea of pumpkins, Richard Gomez, of Sylmar, searched Saturday for the perfect prospective jack-o'-lantern at the annual Calabasas Pumpkin Festival.

``I'm looking for height and a good stem,'' Gomez said.

About five feet away, ``pumpkin artist'' Doug Goodreau was carving intricate faces onto pumpkins and shading them with spray paint, a technique that he has perfected.

``It took years of developing different ideas,'' said Goodreau, who sculpts fossil replications for the Natural History Museum.

His $5-to-$40 jack-o'-lanterns are unorthodox because he does not generally carve out the insides, but rather just sculpts features onto the surface.

The Halloween preparations were just a couple of many sideshows at the Pumpkin Festival, where thousands of visitors packed into the makeshift dirt parking lot at Paramount Ranch.

Between regularly scheduled pie-eating and pumpkin-seed-spitting contests, families enjoyed a reptile show, pony rides, a climbing wall and a constant stream of musicians on the community stage.

``You see tons of families here - what I like about it is that the fun things are also educational,'' said Linda Zakowski of Calabasas, who has been attending the festival for three years.

Organizers were pleased with Saturday's festivities and looking forward to more of the same today.

``We were worried with the Angels game going on, but the turnout has been a big success,'' Uthus said.

But at least one festival employee was hoping to get home in time to watch the World Series.

``We're supposed to work until 5 p.m., but I'm hoping to cut out a little bit early,'' said Joel Gladstein, 25, wearing his Angels cap.

The festival will continue from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. today.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Taylor Gagnon, 2, of Calabasas, looks over a baby pumpkin at the 10th annual Calabasas Pumpkin Festival on Saturday.

(2) Roni Touboul, left, and her sister, Danielle, sit with a friend at the festival Saturday at the Paramount Ranch.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News