Pumpkin chunking

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Pumpkin chunking (or Punkin' Chunkin' or pumpkin chucking) is hurling a pumpkin by mechanical means over great heights and distances in an attempt to hurl the pumpkin the farthest. In order of increasing effectiveness, the devices include compound slingshots, catapults, trebuchets, and pneumatic air cannons. The range achieved by loads greatly depends on their mass, shape, and size; the yield limits, stiffnesses, pitch, and elevation of the hurler; and the wind speed. The better pumpkin chunkers specially grow dwarf, regular, firm pumpkins ideal for use as a cannon projectile, as sabots are prohibited in competitions. Such competitions disallow self- or ground-powered pumpkins by chemical reactions. Another rule is that the pumpkin must be whole after leaving the device for the chunking to count, which limits the forces in the cannon barrel (pumpkins that do not leave the barrel intact are referred to as "pumpkin pie in the sky"). Outside of lengthening the barrel, the limit is on the pumpkin which, as a corollary, of course must be natural. The special pumpkins grown by some are thus not suitable for eating. The latest record for a chunked pumpkin is about 4800 feet.

[edit] Punkin' Chunkin'

Punkin' Chunkin' is the annual World Championship pumpkin-throwing contest held the first weekend after Halloween in Millsboro, Delaware originally starting in 1986. Competing teams construct and fire a variety of pumpkin-launching devices, including catapults, trebuchets, centrifugal machines, and pneumatic air cannons. Contestants compete in divisions with machines of the same type. Currently, the longest distances have been in excess of 4300 feet, fired from pneumatic air cannons. About 100 teams (including the youth divisions) compete.

Although the pumpkin cannons typically shoot farther than other types of launchers, each type is usually present every year and compete in different categories, including height, fan favorite, straightness, and most importantly, range. Each launcher gets the best of three shots, with duds (pumpkin pie in the sky) counting as zero feet. Launchers typically hurl white pumpkins because they can better withstand the forces of launch than the regular orange ones. Each chunk is then marked with a small, color coded flag by officials in the chunking zone on ATVs. The sole fatality of the contest has been a duck hit by a hurled pumpkin.

There is also a carnival area for spectators with amusement rides and food vendors. Locals can enter their favorite pumpkin recipes in the cooking contest.

Since 2004 there has also been an European Championship in Bikschote, Belgium. The European record is 305 meters. There are also smaller "chunks" elsewhere across the United States.