The Dart: Carving up some fun

Published 12:01 am Monday, October 28, 2013

Justin Sellers / The Natchez Democrat — Clay Floyd watches as 17-month-old Hadley Duchesne helps carve a pumpkin at Floyd's home on Eastbrook Road Friday.

Justin Sellers / The Natchez Democrat — Clay Floyd watches as 17-month-old Hadley Duchesne helps carve a pumpkin at Floyd’s home on Eastbrook Road Friday.

NATCHEZ — Halloween just wouldn’t be the unofficial pumpkin holiday without a little pumpkin carving.

And when the Dart landed on Eastbrook Road Friday, it found Clay Floyd and his girlfriend, Mandy Beiser, and Beiser’s 17-month-old daughter, Hadley Duchesne, carving pumpkins.

Beiser usually carves pumpkins every year, she said. She started when her 9-year-old son, Braden, was born.

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“I don’t really think there’s any secret to doing it,” she said. “You just have to try to be good with your hands and go with it.”

Beiser chose the face of Disney princess Cinderella for her pumpkin, and Floyd, a die-hard Saints fan, chose a fleur-de-lis.

Floyd balanced spooning out the inside of his pumpkin with chasing Hadley, who was more interested in carrying a tackle box around the driveway.

Beiser and Floyd were also gearing up for Halloween, which involves making the holiday’s biggest decision: What costumes will the kids wear?

“Braden wants to be a ninja,” Beiser said. “I was going to dress Hadley as a princess or something girly, but I think she’s going to be a pirate. She likes to watch baseball and football. She’s a tomboy and too rambunctious to be a princess.”

Beiser and her children moved to Natchez from Brookhaven a little more than a month ago. Beiser said she is enjoying the town.

“It’s nice; I like it a lot,” she said. “Everybody seems to know each other. It seems like a close-knit community here.”

Beiser said she is excited to take her children trick-or-treating in Natchez.

“It’ll be the first year Hadley can really trick-or-treat, and, of course, Halloween is all about the kids.”