HOW TO GO
What: Second annual Pumpkin Chunkin
Where: Young's Jersey Dairy, 6880 Springfield Xenia Road, just north of Yellow Springs
When: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct 27.
Admission: Free
More info: (937) 325-0629
Why is it so much fun to watch pumpkins fly through the air and smash into a gooey mess upon crashing to the earth? You can try to solve this mystery on Saturday at Young’s Jersey Dairy during the second annual Pumpkin Chunkin contest.
Gourds will be soaring starting at 10 a.m. with the practice round. Two nationally ranked Pumpkin Chunkin teams, American Chuckers and Team Ethos, will demonstrate their giant machines, then the team competition will begin.
Dan Young, owner of Young’s Jersey Dairy, said that area high schools, middle schools and colleges were invited to create a trebuchet or catapult to participate in the competition. The goal is to launch a 2 to 3 pound pumpkin at a target up to 250 feet away. Each team gets three throws, and earns points for how close they get to the target. There are three age groups in the competition: Youth under 14 will aim for a target at 100 feet. Youth age 14 to 18 will aim for a target at 250 feet; and adults age 19 and older aim at a target at 250 feet.
The competition got started when a group of pilots and engineers at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base decided to participate in a charity pumpkin-launching event in 2004. Steve Beyer was a member of that group that continued to compete and eventually went on to become team American Chucker.
“In 2009, we competed in the World Pumpkin Chunkin championships. Out of 110 teams, we placed third,” said Beyer. “We’ve been in the top three for the last three years now. As a result of doing so well, we got national sponsors. But before we accepted any money, we decided we wanted to use the sponsor money to start a scholarship fund for students going into science, engineering or technology in college. So we have a 501c3 account with Greene Giving and that’s where all the money we get goes.”
“Our trebuchet can launch an eight pound pumpkin 2,000 feet. So we’ll do a demo with our machine before the competition starts,” said Beyer. “The nationals are about a week away, and we think we’re going to set a new world record this year.”
While the launching pumpkins is quite fun, Beyer said they are doing the event at Young’s to get kids interested in education. “They learn science and physics while building the trebuchet or catapult,” said Beyer. “We use the hobby as a way to give back to the community.”
“This event is a fun thing to watch,” said Young. “We had a pretty big crowd last year. This year it looks like we’ll have twice as many teams competing as last year.”
Students interested in applying for the scholarship can find the application on the americanchucker.com website.
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