|
Pie in the
sky
Send a link to a friend
Punkin Chuckin' Contest this weekend
[October 17, 2007]
MORTON -- What happens when engineering meets
agriculture and a few innocent pumpkins fall victim to modern
ingenuity? It's the 11th annual Punkin Chuckin' Contest, Oct.
20-21, when contestants compete in the fine art of throwing pumpkins
for distance. Competitors use non-explosive means, from their hands
to intricately designed, missile-type machines, to hurl pumpkins
skyward for admiring spectators.
|
 The event will be at the Uhlman farm, located at the intersection of
Springfield and Allentown roads, rural Tremont. Gates open to
spectators at 9:30 a.m. and the contest is scheduled to begin around
noon.The highlight of the two-day event is the
compressed-air-powered cannons, with some machines in past contests
boasting barrels more than 100 feet long.
Fall decorations and games for the kids will be on-site. A
food tent will be available starting at 10 a.m. daily and will
feature rib-eye steak sandwiches, hot dogs, french fries and several
pumpkin delights.
Cost to attend the event as a spectator is $5 per vehicle.
The contest is always undergoing change and this year is no
exception. Five service organizations are now coordinating the event
and hoping to bring new excitement to this sport.
Three-time world's record pumpkin chuckers from "Aludium Q-36" of
Morton will attempt to break their own record of 4,860 feet, set in
2001, in hopes that their quest for the elusive one-mile chuck won't
be just "pie in the sky." The team's air cannon machine set the
original world's record for the longest pumpkin chuck in 1997
with a distance of 2,710 feet.
Contest categories include the traditional hand-tossed, two youth
divisions (segmented by age group), adult human-powered and an open
class. Open class competitors use machines to launch the pumpkin.
Subcategories within the open class include unlimited trebuchet
(gravity propulsion), unlimited catapult (propulsion using springs,
twisted rope or other means), unlimited centrifugal (centrifugal
force), and unlimited air cannon (air tank and barrel). A high
school project curriculum is available.
[to top of second column]
 |
 Two of the contest rules prevent competitors from using
explosives of any kind and require the pumpkin to be intact as it
leaves the machine.
Participant entry fees range from $1 for the hand-tossed to $35
for open class. Advance registration is available through the Morton
Tourism Office. Machine entries will be accepted up until 9 a.m. on
the day of the event. Prizes range from Pizza Hut gift coupons to
monetary awards in the open class. Overall contest winners also
receive a traveling trophy.
Fun facts
Punkin chuckin': The fine art of throwing pumpkins intact from
one's hands or a variety of machines, with the goal of making
pumpkins fly for distance.
First punkin chuckin' contest: The Lewes World Championship
Punkin Chunkin' contest began in 1986 in Lewes, Del. A group of
local men sat in a blacksmith shop arguing over which of them could
throw an anvil the farthest. With no anvils handy, the men threw
pumpkins, and the contest was born.
Current Guinness Book of World Records pumpkin chuck record:
Morton's Aludium Q-36, at a distance of 4,860 feet in 2001. Machine
designed and built by Parker Fabrication, Litwiller & Sons
Excavating, and Wherry Welding.
Morton is the governor-proclaimed "Pumpkin Capital of the World,"
with approximately 85 percent of the world's canning pumpkins being
canned in the Morton area.
Morton's event has drawn national and international attention
from publications such as the London Times, Newsweek, Popular
Mechanics, Sports Illustrated, The Wall Street Journal, the Food
Network and Midwest Living magazine.
For more information, visit
www.morton-il.gov.
[Text from article by Valerie Welsh; received from
Morton Tourism Office] |
