Punkin Chunkin

So what do the rednecks in southern Delaware and

surrounding areas do with all those leftover pumpkins

from Halloween? They chunk them of course.

We went down to southern Delaware this weekend to the

24th Annual World Championship Punkin Chunkin.

This thing is a BIG deal here and they take it seriously.

One of the sponsors is the Science Channel (Discovery).

They were filming the three day event and will air the

episode on Thursday, November 26 (Thanksgiving), at 8:00 p.m.

Here we are waiting in line for admission and parking.

We came with our good friends to enjoy the afternoon

watching pumpkins fly.

This year, there were over 70,000 people that came over

a three day period to watch the event.

Yep the parking lot was filling up fast.

This is held in a farmers cornfield,

near Bridgeville, DE.

Here is where all the catapults, trebuchets and

other contraptions are lined up. There were dozens of these.

They had some games, carnival rides and other activities.

At this one, you were supposed to chunk a punkin into

this hole in the board. I saw a guy get a hole-in-one.

As you can see, there were many misses.

Here is my friend Francesca chunkin her punkin

into the hole in the board.

You can see it as it goes in the hole.

Here she is with her prize hat and stuffed animal fish

that she won for her efforts.

This is the trophy that goes to the first place finisher

for the punkin that gets chunked the farthest.

Some of the air cannons.

These cannons shoot punkins almost a mile!

Another air cannon.

They say white pumpkins work best

because they are thicker and hold together better.

This vendor was selling funky knitted caps.

More air cannons.

These things are huge, and loud too.

There were dozens of air cannons also.

The world record is over 4,483 feet!

All the air cannons in a row.

They go way off into the distance.

Here are all the trebuchets, catapults and other

contraptions that hurled pumpkins.

Some of the pumpkins disintegrated as they took off.

I had to add a picture of some rednecks.

Here is Francesca and me.

Yes she gave me wet willies from up there.

I wonder where she learned to do that.

Some of the crowd. I don't know what the official

count was, but there were hundreds of people there.

It was about 70 degrees there, not bad for November.

The Skoal tent.

Get your chew before they run out!

Francesca sitting with me while we watched

some of the events.

I teach her this year in a class at church.

I just had to get a picture of this burnt-out couch.

So if you didn't bring your own seat to the event,

there is always this option.