(smooth jazz music) - [Narrator] For a moment, let us ponder the pumpkin.

Each fall, this plump, orange gourd is a common sight in the Hoosier state, as well as a symbol of a rich and bountiful harvest.

Charlie Williams knows a thing or two about pumpkins.

For 36 years, he's raised pumpkins and other vegetables on this farm just west of Ligonier, Indiana.

But to Charlie, his pumpkins are more than just a crop, they're a vehicle for his muse.

- I guess that's my creative ability that I can see what face or something to make out of that pumpkin.

- [Narrator] You see, Charlie's the caretaker of Pumpkin Fantasyland, probably the nation's largest display of pumpkin art.

- Pumpkin Fantasyland started in 1972.

We started small, and grew small, but eventually, it got to be to this size.

- [Narrator] 24 years ago, Charlie was ringing up an order at his country market when he had an epiphany.

- We was at the counter in the market and we had a lady, brought up two butternut squash, and she laid them on the counter, and just by chance, I put them together like this, and I saw Snoopy.

("Charlie Brown Theme Song" playing) - [Narrator] Today, Charlie still creates his famed pumpkin Snoopies.

They're part of an expansive display of more than 3,000 sculptured squash.

- Over there, there on the end is Bill Clinton.

Bill Clinton is our president today.

- [Narrator] With the amber gourd as his canvas, this Picasso of pumpkins has immortalized some of the biggest names in history.

Here in the Hall of Presidents, on stage shares the spotlight with Nixon, Carter, and Clinton.

Charlie even dabbles in a bit of political prognostication.

Here beneath a pumpkin likeness of Colin Powell, Charlie writes, "A man to admire and watch."

♪ Do the Pumpkin Patch Polka ♪ ♪ You can tap, tap, tap ♪ ♪ Clap, clap, clap ♪ ♪ Polka all day long ♪ ♪ Let's dance ♪ - [Narrator] Each year's display is a snapshot of Charlie's experiences over the past 12 months.

This year's theme is Vacations, with many of his vegetable exhibits highlighting the trip he and his wife, June, took last winter.

- Vacations was a theme that I thought of out in California.

My wife and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary, so our theme would come to me as we was traveling out in California.

And why not share our vacation with everybody else?

This is a picture of Charlie and June at the Rose Bowl Parade, we were two of 1 million people that saw the parade.

I won one shoot that day.

- [Narrator] Charlie has captured the excitement of his parade experience in a virtual pageantry of pumpkins, as well, an ensemble of jolly Jack-o-lanterns recreate the couple's experiences aboard the Delta Queen, their excursion to Disneyland, and their visit to the San Diego Zoo.

- As we saw the San Diego Zoo and the animals, we saw the elephants, and there's a picture of the elephants.

We decided we could make an elephant, so we made the elephant right there like that.

That is butternut squash for the trunk and the pumpkins for the feet, and also pumpkin for the body and pumpkin for the head, and we cut it out and that created an elephant just like that.

(elephant trumpeting) - [Visitor] Oh, that's a cute one.

Olive, did you see this one?

Charlie says, "Only God is in a position "to look down on anyone."

(visitor laughing) - Yeah, uh-huh.

- [Narrator] While touring Pumpkin Fantasyland, an observant patron of the pumpkin arts will notice reflections of Charlie's down-home wit and wisdom posted on the walls, a pumpkin parable, if you will.

They range from the humorous to the thought provoking.

- Charlie Pumpkin says, as Charlie says, that a friend is someone that knows you and still likes you.

If you stop and think about it, that importance is the fact that if you like somebody and they're friends, I think everybody should be friends to everybody, really.

- [Narrator] Granted, the pumpkin has become a bit of an obsession for Charlie, but don't go thinking his hobby's little dopey, Charlie Williams collection of pumpkin art reaps an endless harvest of joy and happiness.

- You must've had a good drawing.

The most rewarding part of the whole thing is that you see smiling faces as you go through, they go through the Fantasyland that you have created.

It puts smiles on people's faces, and that is what it's all about.

It's not money that counts, it's the happiness that we get in our life that I can form a creed, something that makes people smile, and that's the reward that I get.

♪ Polka all day long ♪ ♪ Pumpkin Polka ♪ - [Announcer] more "Across Indiana" stories, go to wfyi.org/AcrossIndiana.