The Pumpkin Chunckin Competition [VIDEO]
They are called catapults, trebuchets or cannons. They used to be instruments of war, but today they are operated by kids and adults alike and they are used for tossing pumpkins as far as humanly possible. Kids that compete in this annual event have been known to toss a pumpkin from 800-plus feet last year to almost half a mile this year. They make their contraptions out of anything they can find one trebuchet that’s all aluminum, uses about 20 garage door springs and they use an aluminum boat mast as the arm of the trebuchet. These kids are the future engineers and the future looks bright.
The “Pumpkin Chunckin Competition” got started when there was an over abundance of pumpkins left over just days after Halloween. That is when a few engineering college students, boy scouts and frustrated inventors got together and decided they would rid there town of the excess pumpkins in a fun way. 28 years later the challenge continues. Today there are rules, categories, men and women divisions and age groups. The challenges are distance, height, accuracy and originality. The winner get bragging rights and the kids divisions get noticed by several colleges offering the best “Pumpkin Chunckers” scholarships. Do you think this is fun and okay or is this a wasteful way to dispose of food?