Monday, October 9, 2023

Results of Oct 1st, 2023 - 14th Annual Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin Festival

We had a beautiful, clear warm day at the Mayo Event field in Stowe, VT for the fourteenth annual Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin Festival. There were 11 teams of chuckers, 9 teams in the Chili Cook-Off, 4 food trucks, over 40 craft vendors, 50 volunteers, and roughly 1700 spectators enjoying the hurling, chili judging, craft show, food trucks, 2 bands, a giant robot roaming around the field, kid activities, volleyball tournament and, last but not least, a return visit from crowd favorite Dolores the Tortoise with her handlers. We raised nearly $30,000 for the Clarina Howard Nichols Center (double what the event has raised in the past). The Center’s director, Becky Gonyea, and her merry band of volunteers did an amazing job planning and running the festival for the fifth year in a row!

2023 Winner - Stapleton Walking Arm Trebuchet
Stapleton Walking Arm Trebuchet
New Heavyweight record of 861 feet by Jonathan Stapleton’s amazing “Walking Arm” design:

You would think that last year’s Heavyweight record of 792 feet was safe for several more years, but you would be wrong. The very first throw of the competition went a whopping 861 feet and landed in the bush outside of the field. Jonathan and his son Orion also easily won the Middleweight Open Division with a throw of 462 feet. This unique design was copied by 4 other teams in the competition. Of the remaining competitors, two had floating arm designs, one had a whipper configuration, one had a King Arthur design, and not a single competitor had a traditional trebuchet design. See below for details about each team’s results.

Trebuchet team results:

Lightweight Division (limited to 41” and 20 pounds and age 9 and under, the projectile must be over 3 ounces):

No lightweight trebuchets competed this year. One trebuchet was Lightweight size but we put him into the Middleweight Open category so he could compete.

Middleweight Junior Division (limited to 70” and 100 pounds and age 17 and under, the projectile must weigh over 1 pound):

Place: 1st place, received $100 cash

Team members: Tucker Farnham, Eli Shick, Isaac Blaisdale, Ethan Thompson, Miles O’Brien.
Trebuchet name: Pink Panthers (height=70” weight=100 lb)
Address: Colchester, VT
Best throw: actual = 216 feet, adjusted for height = 370 feet
Notes: High school team from Colchester, first-time contestants.

Middleweight Open Division (limited to 70” and 100 pounds, the projectile must weigh over 1 pound):

Place: 1st place, received $100 cash
Team members: Orion and Jonathan Stapleton
Trebuchet name: Dog Bark Extractor (height=70” weight=100 lb)
Address: Essex, VT
Best throw: actual = 462 feet, adjusted for height = 791 feet
Notes: Orion was a previous record holder in the Middleweight Division with an adjusted throw of 820 feet.

Place: 2nd place, received $50 cash
Team members: Tyler Barnard, Kate Komorowski
Trebuchet name: Just Keep Chuckin’ (height=70” weight=100 lb)
Address: Milton, VT
Best throw: actual = 309 feet, adjusted for height = 529 feet
Notes: The actual throw of 309 was less than Steven McCann’s throw of 327, but Steven’s trebuchet was 18 pounds heavy (118 lb) so when adjusted and scaled came to 441.

Place: 3rd place, received $25 cash
Team members: Steven McCann
Trebuchet name: MAX D 23 (height=70” weight=118 lb)
Address: West Paris, Maine
Best throw: actual = 327 feet, adjusted for height = 441 feet
Notes: Steven and his family are long-time competitors.

Place: 4th place
Team members: Steve McCann and Steven McCann
Trebuchet name: Pumpkin Axe (height=70” weight=103 lb)
Address: West Paris, Maine
Best throw: actual = 252 feet, adjusted for height = 413 feet
Notes: Steve McCann was not able to attend this year due to a social engagement so his dad set up and fired his trebuchet for him.

Place: 5th place
Team members: Michael Porzio, Anthony Stentado, Derek Geno, Tyler McNancy, Whitney McNancy, Gene Torvend
Trebuchet name: Printed Power (height=70’ weight=103 lb)
Address: Roxbury, VT
Best throw: actual = 246 feet, adjusted for height = 403 feet
Notes: Michael challenged his team to design, and 3D print a trebuchet, and compete in 5 days. Their 2 trebuchets looked beautiful and threw successfully.

Place: 6th place
Team members: Roger Duhamel
Trebuchet name: Old Man’s Bucket List (height=40” weight=22 lb)
Address: Milton, VT
Best throw: actual = 126 feet, adjusted for height = 320 feet
Notes: Roger at age 71 is too old to qualify for the Lightweight Division, so we added him to the Middleweight Open Division. His respectable throw of 126 feet scaled up to 320 feet; just enough to bump the event organizer to 7th place.

Place: 7th place
Team members: Dave Jordan
Trebuchet name: Bad Boomer (height=70” weight=109 lb)
Address: Morrisville, VT
Best throw: actual = 205 feet, adjusted for height = 310 feet
Notes: This trebuchet was made by the organizer of the event and author of this summary document. After 14 years of competing, I should have no problem getting a trebuchet to fire correctly. Unfortunately, that is not the case; at least it went forward this year, last year it went backward or straight up in the air.

Heavyweight Division (limited to 120” and 500 pounds, the projectile must weigh over 5 pounds):

Place: 1st place, received $100 cash
Team members: Jonathan Stapleton
Trebuchet name: Controlled Chaos (height=120” weight=500 lb)
Address: Essex, VT
Best throw: actual = 861 feet, adjusted for height = 861 feet
Notes: Jonathan was the previous record holder with 792 feet and broke his own record by 69 feet! I believe his design is the best in the world. No other design can throw a 5-pound pumpkin that far with a 10-foot-tall trebuchet that weighs only 500 pounds (total).

Place: 2nd place, received $50 cash
Team members: Nicolas Helms, Roderick Owens, Justice Holden, Bruce Penfield
Trebuchet name: Weapons of Medieval Destruction (height=120” weight=500 lb)
Address: Newport, VT
Best throw: actual = 315 feet, adjusted for height = 315 feet
Notes: Nick has been coming to this event for 12 years. He pulled his trebuchet out of the barn the day before the event and managed to get it to fire successfully! That is not an easy task to do.

Best Design:

Each year the winners of the Lightweight, Middleweight Junior, Middleweight Open, and Heavyweight divisions compete against each other for the title of Best Design. This is awarded to the trebuchet that throws the farthest for its height. The Lightweights are scaled up by the ratio of the heavyweight’s height divided by their height: 120” / 41” = 2.93. The Middleweights are scaled up by 120” / 70” = 1.71. The Heavyweights are not scaled at all since they are already 120” tall.

The winner of the Best Design goes to Jonathan Stapleton with a throw of 861 feet. He gets an extra $100 cash.

Throw for Show:

Place: 1st place
Team members: Steve Taylor, Zach Taylor, Alex Taylor, John Taylor
Onager (catapult) name: Chunker T
Address: Upton, MA
Best throw: actual = 693 feet
Notes: This team built a torsion catapult (I believe it is called an onager) which gets its power from the arm trapped inside a massive rope twisted up and then released. This was a weapon used back in the Roman days. I noticed the first few throws didn’t go nearly as far; probably with good reason because this type of machine can easily break with the amount of force generated. They must have cranked that rope up something fierce because their last throw was a line drive that came out like a cannon.

Chili Cook-Off Contest:

There were 9 entries in the chili cookoff. Attendees paid $5 to taste their choice of 5 chili and then voted for their best chili using a number code.
  1. First place and $100 cash went to #8 made by Evan Wisell.
  2. Second place and $50 cash went to #7 made by Carter Peck.
  3. Tied for third place and #25 cash went to #6 Deb’s Place. Also tied for third place and $25 cash went to #4 Rene Proteau.
Second Annual Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin Invitational Volleyball Quads Tournament:

The head of Green Mountain Volleyball, Bill Orleans promoted, ran, and competed in a volleyball tournament with eleven teams during the festival gathering the best players in Vermont and New York.
  1. First place went to: Taj Schottland, Lucy Drummond, Josh Bourdeau, and Bin.
  2. Second place went to: Dave Rapuano, Max Rooney, Charlie Beckerle, and Josh Nelson.
Dolores the Tortoise attended 2023 VT Pumpkin Chuckin
Dolores the Tortoise:


For the second year in a row, Kelly Carrick brought Dolores, her well-behaved 30-pound tortoise to enjoy the festival. And once again, Dolores was a crowd favorite! Check out Facebook to see some more pictures of Dolores at the festival.

Giant Robot:

Joshua Nye, the head of Nye Mechworks, again brought his giant robot and demonstrated it at the far corner of the field, out of range of most of the pumpkins. If you missed his demo, check out nyemechworks.com for videos and more information on building your own giant robot from cheap, easily found-parts.

Food trucks:

After three food trucks decided to cancel at the last minute, the remaining four vendors stepped up and worked non-stop to serve the large crowd. Thanks to Melted Cheeserie, Mediterranean Mix, Street Treats Ice Cream Truck, and Jenna’s Promise Roasting Company.

Craft Fair:

New to the event this year was a craft fair. Event attendees enjoyed shopping from 40 craft vendors selling a wide variety of products including pottery, jewelry, honey, clothing, maple products, woodworking, artwork, and much more. One vendor said this event was their most profitable event all year.

Two bands:

John Smyth (singer/songwriter) kicked off the festival with his original music while the teams set up their trebuchets and catapults. Then Kirkland the Band kept the ball rolling with excellent tunes to hurl with all day long.

Business Sponsors:
Thanks to our business sponsors -
Heavyweight: N.A. Manosh Corporation, Smugglers’ Notch Resort.

Middleweight: Coldwell Banker Carlson Real Estate, Commodities Natural Market, Community National Bank, In Company, Leaves of Change Vermont, Piecasso Family Pizzeria, Seldom Scene Interiors, 10 Railroad Street, The Blue Donkey, Union Bank.

Lightweight: Bourne’s Energy, BunyaBunya, Casella Waste Systems, Cork Restaurant, and Natural Wine Shop, Donald P. Blake Jr. Inc., Edward Jones – Caren Merson, Financial AdvisorManufacturing Solutions, Inc., Nichols and Associates, P.C., Points North Physical Therapy, The Country Store on Main, The Melted Cheesiere, The Stowe UPS Store, Trombley and Day Group.

Volunteers:

This event would not be possible without the help of our volunteers. 50 volunteers helped to make this event a reality. Volunteers assisted with everything from setting up tents to cleaning up, parking cars, cleaning bathrooms, collecting entrance fees, staffing the kids’ activities, measuring chuckin’ distances, and more. A special thank you to our announcer, Sean Morrissey, and to the youth volunteers from Peoples Academy and Stowe HS and their coach Sampson Avery.

Please contact me with any suggestions for next year's festival or corrections to this document. Djordan@gmavt.net

We look forward to the next festival, tentatively on Sept. 29th, 2024 at the Mayo Field in Stowe. Check the blog when it gets close because we don’t always get the Sunday we ask for.

Dave Jordan
Festival organizer

Wednesday, October 4, 2023

Great Event!

Becky Gonyea, Executive Director, of the Clarina Howard Nichols Center, provided us with a very nice round-up of this year's massively successful 14th Annual Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival:

Estimated record attendance - 1,700 people!

The event raised nearly $30,000 for the Clarina Howard Nichols Center (double what the event has raised in the past)! Funds raised come from entrance fees, business sponsors, t-shirt sales, the chili cook-off, and craft fair vendor fees. 

Thank you to our business sponsors -
Heavyweight - N.A. Manosh Corporation, Smugglers’ Notch Resort
Middleweight - Coldwell Banker Carlson Real Estate, Commodities Natural Market, Community National Bank, In Company, Leaves of Change Vermont, Piecasso Family Pizzeria, Seldom Scene Interiors, 10 Railroad Street/The Blue Donkey, Union Bank
Lightweight - Bourne’s Energy, BunyaBunya, Casella Waste Systems, Cork Restaurant & Natural Wine Shop, Donald P. Blake Jr. Inc., Edward Jones – Caren Merson, Financial Advisor, Manufacturing Solutions, Inc., Nichols & Associates, P.C., Points North Physical Therapy, The Country Store on Main, The Melted Cheeserie, The UPS Store, Trombley & Day Group

Chili Cook-off Results -
There were 9 entries into the chili cook-off.
Attendees paid $5 to taste their choice of 5 of the chilis.
They voted for their favorite chili.

The winners are -
1st place - #8 - Evan Wisell
2nd place - #7 - Carter Peck
3rd place - 2-way tie - #6 - Deb's Place and #4 - Renee Proteau

After 3 food/drink vendors canceled at the last minute, the 4 remaining vendors stepped up and worked non-stop to serve the large crowd. Thank you to The Melted Cheeserie, Mediterranean Mix, Street Treats Ice Cream Truck, and Jenna's Promise Roasting Co.

New to the event this year was a craft fair. Event attendees enjoyed shopping from 40 craft vendors who sold a wide variety of products including pottery, jewelry, honey, clothing, maple products, woodworking, artwork, and much more. One vendor said this event was their most profitable event all year.

This event would not be possible without the help of our volunteers. Nearly 50 volunteers helped to make the event a reality. Volunteers assisted with everything from set up to clean up, parking cars, cleaning bathrooms, collecting entrance fees, staffing the kids' activities, measuring pumpkin chuckin' distances, and much more. A special thank you to the youth volunteers from Peoples Academy and Stowe High School.

Becky Gonyea (she/her)
Executive Director
Clarina Howard Nichols Center
PO Box 517, Morrisville, VT 05661
bgonyea@clarina.org
Office - (802) 888-2584 ext. 103
24-Hour Hotline – (802) 888-5256

Monday, October 2, 2023

Thank You to All

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who helped, attended, or supported our 14th Annual Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival yesterday. It all helps the Clarina Howard Nichols Center continue its work to end domestic and sexual violence. 

It was a record-setting festival on all fronts. Our winning competitor Jonathan Stapleton had a winning world record hurl of 862 feet on his first throw. Full final results will be provided soon.

We want to fully echo this thank you from the Clarina Howard Nichols Center:
We’ll post more details soon, but tonight we just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who made the 14th annual Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival a huge success! It was a record-breaking year for attendance, funds raised, and pumpkin chuckin’ distance.

Thank you to the MANY volunteers who did everything - cleaned bathrooms, parked cars, collected entrance fees, measured pumpkin distances, staffed the kids’ activities, and so much more. 
Thank you to the pumpkin chuckin’ competitors for the time you put into building your trebuchets and for putting on a great show.
 
Thank you to the food/drink vendors who stepped up and handled the masses of hungry attendees after three of our vendors canceled at the last minute.
 
Thank you to the chili cook-off competitors and tasters.
 
Thank you to the craft fair vendors who brought amazing handcrafted items and added a whole new element to the event.
 
Thank you to the spectators who came out for a fun day and support Clarina’s work to end domestic and sexual violence.
 
We are already looking forward to next year!

Photo credit - Brek Erinx
2023 Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival
Winning VTPC Stapleton Walking Arm Trebuchet
Winning VTPC Stapleton Walking Arm Trebuchet

 

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

5 Days until the Biggest and Best Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival Ever!

5 Days Until Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival
Exciting news! The first 250 people to enter the VT Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival on Sunday, October 1st will each receive a $5 Dunkin' gift card. The festival opens to the public at 11 am.

$5 Dunkin' Gift Card for first 250 to enter festival

Come check out the amazing arts and crafts vendors from all over Vermont as well as Maine and New Hampshire. More than 35 vendors will be selling pottery, jewelry, maple products, candles, honey, macrame, clothing, artwork, woodworking, knitted items, and much more!

35 Craft Vendor from all over New England

We are also so excited about the food vendors at the 14th Annual Pumpkin Chuckin Festival! We hope to see you there!

Food Vendors at 14th Annual VTPC


Wednesday, September 13, 2023

Craft Fair Vendors

This year's Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival on October 1st will have over 35 Craft Fair vendors selling pottery, jewelry, maple products, candles, honey, macrame, clothing, artwork, woodworking, knitted items, & much more! Here is our poster...



Thursday, September 7, 2023

14th Annual VTPC Poster

14th Annual Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival poster

Pumpkin Chuckin' 2023 - Sunday, October 1st - Schedule of Events

 8:00 AM:     

  • Trebuchet contestants begin setting up
  • Volleyball set up and registration

9:00 AM:     

  • Volleyball tournament begins

11:00 AM:     

  • Doors open to public
  • Food trucks open
  • Craft Fair starts 
  • John Smyth (local singer/songwriter) begins performing
  • Kid activities start
  • Trebuchet registration

11:30AM:     

  • Deadline for Chili Cookoff contestants
  • Giant Robot demo

11:45 AM:     

  • Kirkland the Band begins performing

12:00 PM:     

  • Festival introduction covering rules and motivation for event
  • Chili Cookoff starts: Tastings begin, public vote for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place

12:30 PM:     

  • First round of chuckin'
  • Announcing by Sean Morrissey and Jake St. Pierre from the award winning local
  • TV program “Grand Isle Back Yard”
  • Stowe track team provides accurate measurement of shot distance

1:15 PM: 

  • Giant Robot demo

1:30 PM: 

  • Second round of chuckin'

2:00 PM:

  • End of Chili Cookoff

2:15 PM: 

  • Announce Winners of Chili Cookoff

2:30 PM: 

  • Third round of chuckin'

3:30 PM: 

  • Announce winners of Lightweight, Middleweight Junior, Middleweight Open and Heavyweight divisions and Grand prize awarded to most efficient trebuchet across all divisions.

3:45 PM: 

  • Kirkland the band plays

4:00 PM: 

  • Winners of volleyball tournament announced
  • Craft fair ends
  • Food trucks close
  • Kid activities end
  • Festival closes

Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Press Release: 14th Annual Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival

August 30, 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Person: Dave Jordan
Phone: 603-630-4800
Email: Djordan@gmavt.net
Website: VTPumpkinChuckin.blogspot.com
Charity name: Clarina Howard Nichols Center, Morrisville, VT

14th Annual Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin Festival
Held at the Stowe Events Field, Weeks Hill Road in Stowe, VT
Proceeds of October 1st event to benefit Clarina Howard Nichols Center


Stowe, Vermont, Aug. 30, 2023: This year marks 14 years of the Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin Festival (VTPC) which was awarded USA Today’s best fall festival in the nation. This festival celebrates the sport of “chuckin” pumpkins, for distance, using a do-it-yourself constructed trebuchet, which is a gravity powered catapult. Inventors, engineers, woodworkers and tinkerers are challenged to use gravity in creative ways to throw a projectile as far as possible. The contraptions have height and weight limits but no limits on design or materials used. Festival founder Dave Jordan describes the event as a cross between a Soap box Derby (amateur building/engineering) and a shot put contest (throwing for distance). The current record for the massive heavyweight division was set last year by Jonathan Stapleton at 792 feet! His son, Orion Stapleton threw 473 feet in the middleweight division and won the best design with a height-adjusted throw of 810 feet!

The VTPC Festival is a one-day event that benefits the Clarina Howard Nichols Center. Founded in 1981, the Center works to end domestic and sexual violence in Lamoille County.

Mark your calendar for Sunday, October 1st, 2023. The Festival runs from 11am to 4pm and features three rounds of competitive pumpkin chuckin at 12:30pm, 1:30pm and 2:30pm, with awards shortly after the last round. No dogs, outside food or beverage are allowed at the event.

New to the festival this year is a craft fair with over 20 crafters already signed up. Attendees can purchase amazing Vermont made products including candles, jewelry, maple syrup, pottery, art work, clothing, and so much more. Last year’s 3 food trucks were a big success so we’ve expanded to 6 this year. Bring your appetite and enjoy food from Vermont vendors – The Melted Cheesiere, Taco Truck All Stars, Pizza Bottega, Mediterranean Mix, Green Mountain Kettle Corn, and Street Treats Ice Cream Truck.

Back again from last year are announcers Sean Morrissey and Jake St. Pierre of the award-winning local TV program “Grand Isle Back Yard”. Along with the pumpkin chuckin’ contest there will be live music, a chili cook-off with cash prizes, a giant robot demo and kids’ activities; all creating an enjoyable fall day. Music for this year’s festival will be provided by two bands: Kirkland the band and John Smyth. Green Mountain Volleyball will be running a volleyball tournament featuring the best players in the state. Check their website at gmvb.com for details. There is plenty of time to build a fine trebuchet or prepare your best chili for the chili cook off. Pre-registration is not required for the trebuchet contest or chili cook off.

It costs $10 to enter the festival if you are a spectator, trebuchet or volleyball competitor, but you get in free if you make 2 gallons of chili and compete in the chili cookoff. Chili must be on-site by 11:30am. Entrance is free for children 5 years and younger and parking is free.

INFO: Specifications, rules, and entry information can be found on the festival’s website at www.vtpumpkinchuckin.blogspot.com or contact the festival organizer Dave Jordan, at Djordan@gmavt.net