Outreach at Operation Pumpkin

Hamilton, Ohio – Art meets technology on 2nd Street this weekend.

Visitors to the Fitton Center booth during Operation Pumpkin can make pumpkin- and fall-themed masks at the craft tables and don them next door at the InkEngines booth in front of a 10-foot green screen.

Why a green screen?

So guests can insert one of more than half a dozen kid-created backgrounds for their photos at the selfie station.

All the backgrounds pay homage to the pumpkin – naturally - but each does so in unique ways.

One background has a behemoth pumpkin crawling in spiders filling the frame; another features pumpkins bleeding out among bats and green ghosts. A third depicts a team of drones lifting a pumpkin in a net over an ominously black Hamilton skyline. On the more fanciful side, see a fall spin on a snowman with a trio of stacked jack-o-lanterns wearing a wizard’s hat and holding a camera.

“The pictures were made by our Junior Committee members,” said OP founder Jason Snyder. “They are a committee of five and their ages range from 10 to 13 years old.”

The photo backgrounds didn’t happen willy-nilly.

“The junior members hold all the same responsibilities as senior committee members and must receive majority approval from all members for any activities,” Snyder said. “They are required to attend two meetings a month and are solely responsible for the Kids Zone.”

Enjoy the fruits of their labor from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 8 and 9, on 2nd Street, just south of High Street.

The Fitton Center for Creative Arts is located at 101 S. Monument Avenue on the Riverfront in downtown Hamilton, Ohio.