Photo gallery: Cinderella’s Pumpkin Village at Autumn at the Arboretum

It's a great pumpkin village, Charlie Brown.

DALLAS — The Dallas Arboretum's Autumn at the Arboretum includes thousands of pumpkins along with other gourds and squashes lining the gardens' walkways, decorating plantings, composing checkerboards and other designs, and covering four structures in Cinderella's Pumpkin Village. Great Pumpkin Shortage of 2011? Pshaw. (Unless the Arboretum, not Hurricane Irene, is really to blame when you can't find canned pumpkin at Thanksgiving.)

Cinderella's Carriage is part of Autumn at the Arboretum 2011.

See for yourself through November 23 in the arboretum's Pecan Grove. There you'll find pumpkin-covered structures representing Cinderella's ballroom, the Fairy Godmother's home, and the rooms of Cinderella and her stepsisters -- all surrounded by even more pumpkins. There's also Cinderella's coach (made from metal, not pumpkins) with topiary horses. It's a great photo opp for families: During my visit, there was always an impromptu line.

Children seemed to like the Cinderella theme. Inside the ballroom-themed pumpkin house, a group of girls in Disney Princess dresses oohed and ahhed at the glass slipper resting on a pillow. I was not awed -- or really even interested -- in the fairy tale stuff. But I still enjoyed the pumpkin village because of the sheer number of pumpkins and how they're used, especially in the multi-colored gourd-covered house and the corn husk chandelier. Another highlight was the pumpkin primer: a display of the four dozen types of gourds and squashes used in the gardens, from the nubby Peanut Pumpkins to Turk's Turban Squash to Speckled Long Neck Swan Gourd.

On October 29 and October 30, the arboretum hosts Family Fun Weekend. Children under 10 can trick or treat at the four houses in Cinderella's Pumpkin Village and the seven Fairy Tale Castles. The event also includes a magician, a petting zoo, and face painting.