Month: August 2019

Since we are closing in on another fall season I thought I would talk about Pumpkin Chunkin. This is just something I have stumbled upon in the last few years and find it super interesting.

Pumpkin Chunkin is a sport that became a thing back in the early ’80s, Punkin Chunkin (generically called “pumpkin launching”) has aired on the Discovery and Science channels. There are more than 40,000 videos on YouTube. And the sport has even made its way into an episode of Modern Family.
To participate, men, women and children (in special youth divisions) build often-complex mechanical devices for the sole purpose of hurling pumpkins across open fields and farmland. The team whose pumpkin smashes at the farthest distance wins, says Steve Pierce, a member of the world champion American Chunker team. The sport had humble beginnings: “A few guys were at a farm after the harvest, looking at a pile of pumpkins. One basically said, ‘I bet I can throw this farther than you.’”

Punkin Chunkin advanced in a very Game of Thrones-like way. Teams initially used giant slingshots, catapults and trebuchets. But instead of taking out Casterly Rock with boulders or heavy metal objects, their versions were engineered specifically for the weight and density of pumpkins. With catapults and trebuchets—some measuring two stories tall—pumpkins sailed farther and farther, tracking thousands of feet.

Here is a deeper look back at the turbulent history of the former Delaware tradition.
1986: The first Punkin Chunkin competition is held near Milton with a handful of spectators and three contestants, according to News Journal archives. It was the brainchild of Trey Melson and Bill Thompson after an argument about who could find a way to throw a pumpkin farther.

1989: Organizers expected a half-dozen machines, and no registration was required. Then-spokesman Harry Lackhove predicted a throw of 1,000 feet could take top prize and earn the winner “a cap or T-shirt and the right to crow for a year,” he told The News Journal.
1991: About 5,000 turned out to see about 12 entrants with wooden catapults and motorized machines, The News Journal reported at the time.

1992: The event drew an estimated 7,500 to 10,000 people from as far away as Canada and Alaska to watch nine contestants, according to News Journal archives.
1993: Punkin Chunkin wins the Governor’s Tourism Award as Delaware’s outstanding special event. It expanded in 1993, adding human-powered and youth divisions plus a pumpkin recipe contest.
2002: Punkin Chunkin is televised for the first time by the Discovery Channel.
2007: The event moves to Bridgeville due to increasing space needs. The new location was at the intersection of Seashore Highway and Chaplains Chapel Road.
2009: The Science Channel begins its annual coverage of Punkin Chunkin. It quickly becomes a staple of their Thanksgiving programming.
2011: A volunteer is injured in an ATV accident at the 2011 edition of Punkin Chunkin.

2013: A volunteer files a personal injury lawsuit regarding an ATV accident in 2011. After the lawsuit is filed, the farmer who hosted the event says he won’t let it return to his property. The lawsuit is eventually settled out of court.
Oct. 3, 2014:Punkin Chunkin is canceled a little less than a month before it was scheduled to take place at its new location, the Dover International Speedway. Event organizers say the event will start in its new Dover location in 2015.

Oct. 8, 2015: For the second straight year Punkin Chunkin is canceled. The event is shuttered in part due to difficulty finding an insurer. It’s in this time that event organizers begin considering Maryland locations.Nov. 3-5, 2016: Punkin Chunkin returns after a two-year hiatus. The three-day event is held at Wheatley Farms in Bridgeville. Event organizers struggled to find a location willing to host the event and an insurer.

Nov. 5, 2016: Suzanne Dakessian is critically injured when an air cannon blows apart while firing a pumpkin and a piece of it strikes her in the head. The 39-year-old was working as a television producer for the Science Channel. A 56-year-old man also suffered non-life threatening injuries.
Nov. 21, 2016: Science Channel cancels its Punkin Chunkin special.

Aug. 16, 2017: Suzanne Dakessian files a civil lawsuit against the organization, its leaders, the state Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and the farm where the event was held.
Aug. 23, 2017: Punkin Chunkin organizers cancel the event in 2017 in light of the lawsuit. The event also did not take place in 2018.
Jan. 25, 2019: A federal judge dismisses Suzanne Dakessian’s lawsuit with prejudice.
Feb. 8, 2019: Punkin Chunkin organizers announce that they are looking to put on the event once again.
“It’s official. WE ARE BACK, although, we never left or dissolved despite rumors,” the organization wrote in a Facebook post.
April 30, 2019: Officials in Ocean City, Maryland, vote in support of hosting the event, but no formal agreement is put in place. The preliminary proposal calls for the event to take place at the Inlet parking lot where pumpkins would be launched into the ocean instead of farm fields. Punkin Chunkin officials indicate that there has been interest in areas outside of Delmarva, including Illinois and Colorado. “We are still here. We’re still trying to keep it alive,” said Frank Payton, president of the World Championship Punkin Association. “If we can keep it on Delmarva, I think we want to.”
May 28, 2019: Punkin Chunkin organizers announce that the event is moving to Rantoul, Illinois. It will be held in November.

In case you are wondering records? this is from official site

dult Air
American Chunker Inc
4694.68 ft
2013
Adult Catapult
Chunk Norris
3508 ft
2016
Adult centrifugal
Bad to the Bone
3245.58 ft
2013
Adult centrifugal human powered
Smokin Lamas
1776.37 ft
2013
Adult Centrifugal Human Powered*
Smokin Lamas
2,368.5 ft
2015
Adult Female Air
Hormone Blaster
4382.96 ft
2013
Adult human power
Shooda Node Beter
2343.42 ft
2016
Adult torsion
Chucky III
3636.39 ft
2011
Adult trebuchet
Yankee Siege II
2835.81 ft
2013
Adult Trebuchet*
Colossal Thunder
3,278.6 ft
2015
Youth 10 & under
Little Blaster
1939.81 ft
2002
Youth 10 & under catapult
Jersey Devil
1272.64 ft
2013
Youth 10 & under trebuchet
Pumpkin Pirates
550.43 ft
2016
Youth air cannon
Snot Rocket
4206.32 ft
2013
Youth catapult
The Plague
1568.82 ft
2011
Youth Human Powered
Stomach Virus
1,230.12 ft
2013
Youth Human Powered*
Stomach Virus
1,378.6 ft
2015
youth trebuchet
Colossal Thunder
2402.63 ft
2013

* Record was set at a sanctioned event in 2015. All other records were set when all machines were at the same location, duration, altitude and similar conditions.
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