A pumpkin-smashing good time
World of Wonders Science Museum hosts third annual Punkin’ Chunkin’
Jake Campbell, 5, of Lodi, gets a helmet before launching his pumpkins during the Punkin’ Chunkin’ event at the World of Wonders Science Museum in Lodi on Saturday. For more on the event,
Like the sudden apparition of a haunted spirit, Halloween came and went.
Hundreds of carved and painted pumpkins have now either met their demise at the bottom of the garbage can, or continue to waste away on porches and front steps.
There’s a better solution: turning pumpkins into projectiles.
Dozens of families launched gourds of all shapes, sizes and colors Saturday at the third annual Punkin’ Chunkin’ event at the World of Wonders Museum in downtown Lodi.
Two orange trebuchets, appropriately named “jack-o-splatters,” whipped pumpkins down the block of North Sacramento Road by the pull of a cord.
“Launching!” men shouted as the countdown began. “1 ... 2 ... 3!”
There were pumpkins big and small, smooth and rough that soared through the air. Some flew faster and farther than others, but smiles and high-fives were plenty.
A day with grandpa
Rocky Suess led his grandson Jack Suess to an open trebuchet.
Thinking ahead, Jack wanted to be safe and strap on a pumpkin-colored helmet.
For reasons only a 3-year-old would understand, Jack selected a helmet to wear that was twice as large as his head.
The boy was wide-eyed as he watched his pumpkin crash into the ground several yards away. His grandfather, making sure to get plenty of pictures and video on his cellphone, couldn’t contain his laughter.
“This is ‘hanging out with grandpa day,’ “Rocky Suess said. “There’s nothing better than launching vegetables.”
Everyone wins, even the animals
In the first year of the event, pumpkin debris would be gathered up and thrown away.
A complaint was made that the museum was being wasteful.
Museum education director Nick Gray agreed and a new method was adopted. All the bits and pieces of pumpkins and the seeds are collected in buckets and put in a large trailer.
The trailer will be hauled to a farm in Acampo, where the debris will be used for pig and goat feed.
In the meantime, what’s better, watching the pumpkins fly through the air, or the sound they make when they land?
“Do I have to choose?” Gray said with a laugh. “Bigger ones tend to have a higher arc and nice big splash.
The smaller ones are more of a line drive and go really far and they make a nice bang; it’s all really good.”
Smashing pumpkins
Jestyn Gomes brought five of his own pumpkins from home in a large wooden wagon. One was considered too large, so he watched his sons Tyler, 8, and Jacob, 6, take turns pulling the lever four times.
“This is better than just tossing them in the trash,” Jestyn Gomes said.
Tyler Gomes’ favorite part was hearing the explosions once the pumpkins met asphalt.
Same goes for Jacob Gomes to see the seeds spray in different directions.
He pointed to a white building across the street: “Seeds got on that building!”