‘IT’S JUST FUN’
Annual Valparaiso pumpkin launch sets distance record of about 900 feet
Team Fahrfunflinger again dominated Faith Evangelical Bible Church’s annual Punkin Launchin on Saturday, setting a record by sending a pumpkin sailing 936 feet, 2 inches, almost to the church’s sign along Porter County Road 400 North.
Fahrfunflinger’s spearfishing tub-based launch had its greatest distance with its first launch, landing with a heavy splat that sent bits of pumpkin shrapnel, visible even from a distance, in all directions.
“I’ve got to say, there is a favorable wind right now,” said Darel Walker, chair of the pumpkin launch committee and master of ceremonies of sorts for the friendly competition.
Andy Wenthold and his son, Nathan, 12, paused prepping their trebuchet, Medieval Mayhem, as they watched Fahrfunflinger’s launch.
Wenthold, of Valparaiso, said he started as the church’s minister in 2018 and the launch was put on hold that year because of the transition. Last year, he acquired the trebuchet, constructed by Victory Christian Academy students, after the school said they weren’t going to participate in the launch any more.
School officials asked if anybody wanted the trebuchet, Wenthold said, “and I said, as a matter of fact … ”
He’s made a few modifications, using bags of concrete mix as weights instead of gym weights, for example. While some participants travel to other launches to compete, Went hold said
Medieval Mayhem only participates at the church’s launch because it’s too tall and ungainly to tow.
“It’s just fun. It’s superunique. For a lot of people, they’ve never even seen it before,” he said. Wenthold said while the other two contraptions participating Saturday were competing, “I’ll never throw it further than 350 or 400 feet.”
The In “Tim” idator, a slingshot built by Tim Miller and his son, Noah, had a pumpkin stumble when its second launch sent the squash just 85 feet.
“We couldn’t get the pumpkin in the sling all the way. The pumpkin was too fat,” said Noah, a senior at Purdue University in West Lafayette who’s been flinging pumpkins in the air with his dad for nine years.
Though they’ve been to a competition in Bloomington, the Millers, of Kouts, haven’t lugged their slingshot there in a while, Noah said, adding they only do the local launch these days.
“It’s just something we do for a little fun,” he said.
According to the plaque on the winner’s trophy, In“Tim” idator and Fahrfunflinger have been battling for first place since 2013, when the Millers took the win. For the most part, the winning distances have increased each year.
The In “Tim” idator’s best launch came when it won in 2017 at 768 feet, 11 inches, “so we’re trying to beat that,” Noah said.
The launch, Walker said, usually features around four contraptions but one of the regular participants was in the process of being rebuilt. The church got its start in the launch after Walker attended the national event in Morton, Illinois.
“It’s just a real exciting, fun event,” he said. He said the church’s former pastor suggested starting one there, “and I was growing pumpkins at the time, so I had a free supply.”
Team Fahrfunflinger, composed of Ric and Laurie Franke-Polz, of Porter, and Jim and Kari Murray, of Chesterton, got its beginnings 16 years ago after a visit to the national competition as well.
“We got hooked,” said Laurie Franke-Polz, adding this was the machine’s seventh year at the Valparaiso launch.
“This kicks us off. Valparaiso is our first one,” she said. She said the team plans to head to Bloomington for the competition there and is scheduled to be an exhibitor at a fall festival in Milwaukee.
In past years, the team has had an event every weekend in October, she said, but with the COVID-19 pandemic, she said, “it’s a strange year.”
A growing crowd of spectators gathered on the grass, a safe distance from the sailing squash, including Dave and Kathy Jaspers, of Streamwood, Illinois. Dave Jaspers, a retired minister, was the guest speaker for a church program before the launch and decided to stick around because he hadn’t witnessed one before.
“It’s cool, very cool,” he said. “I like all the complexities of the machines. They’re far more sophisticated than I thought.”