CAMBRIDGE, Vermont, Sept. 8th — With a love for all things pumpkin, the Boyden Family Farm in Cambridge, VT and the Cambridge Area Rotary are hosting the state of Vermont's second annual official Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival to raise money for the Lamoille Family Center and Cambridge Rotary.
The first festival was a huge success with 10 teams competing and over 300 spectators enjoying the competition, music and picnic atmosphere. This year will have many more competitors and feature an air-cannon exhibition which was built by a team from New Hampshire that call themselves American Chunker. They plan to beat the world record (just 600 feet shy of a mile) at the world championship pumpkin chunkin contest in Delaware! They will also demonstrate the ability to fire a 10 round burst automatically (world's first).
Local inventor, J. J. Spanier (hit of the last year's festival) will also be back with an even bigger trebuchet, also an exhibition. Both these contraptions are not competing against the trebuchets which have 3 strict categories for height and weight. The "Thing" from a team in Morrisville will also be back to defend their title. They won last year with a toss of 135 feet. A Trebuchet is a huge, gravity-powered catapult that was employed in the Middle Ages as a siege engine to either to smash castle walls or to throw projectiles over them. These days they are built to hurl pumpkins for distance.
The world championship pumpkin-throwing contest is held the first weekend after Halloween in Sussex County, Delaware. Vermont's Pumpkin Chuckin Festival is an annual event, held on the first Sunday in October.
Dave Jordan, creator (and competitor) of the festival says, "This is a fun competition modeled after the Soap Box Derby. The height and weight are limited to make it fair for teams with limited resources. The team that throws a pumpkin the farthest FOR THEIR HEIGHT and will win best design prize and receive first pick of the prizes".
The festival will have four categories of competition, which also compete directly against each other:
· Lightweight Division: Open only to ages 10 and below
Max. total weight of trebuchet is 20 lbs.
Max. height is 41 inches
projectile = 3 ounces tomato
· Middleweight Junior Division: Open only to ages 17 and below:
Max. total weight of trebuchet is 100 lbs.
Max. height is 70 inches
projectile = 1 pound pumpkin
· Middleweight Open Division: Open to all ages
Max. total weight of trebuchet is 100 lbs.
Max. height is 70 inches
projectile = 1 pound pumpkin
· Heavyweight Division: Open to all ages
Max. total weight of trebuchet is 500 lbs.
Max. height is 10 feet
projectile = 5 pound pumpkin
Exciting prizes for the winners have been donated by some of the Festival sponsors. Prizes include:
- Glider ride for 2 by Stowe Soaring
- Dinner for 2 by Trattoria La Festa in Stowe
- Dinner for 2 at Bee's Knees in Morrisville
- Umiak Outfitters gift certificate
Other family activities at the VT Pumpkin Chuckin' festival will include:
- Volleyball
- Croquet
- Food provided by Boyden Farm (get a famous Boyden Beef Burger)
- Corn maze: $4 for adults, $2 for ages 12 and under
For more information about the First Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival, guests can visit the vtpumpkinchuckin.blogspot.com or call the festival organizer Dave Jordan at (802) 888-2910. Or contact Dave, via email at: DJordan@gmavt.net.
SOURCE: Dave Jordan