We had a beautiful sunny day at the Stoweflake Resort and Spa for the twelfth annual Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin Festival with 10 teams competing in the chuck, 4 teams in the Chili Cook Off, 31 volunteers and over 900 spectators enjoying the chuckin, chili, food, two bands, kid activities, games and a giant robot roaming the field. Over $12,000 was raised for the Clarina Howard Nichols Center (Morrisville) whose staff and volunteers did an amazing job running the festival. The
Clarina Howard Nichols Center is doing great work and they did a fantastic job running the festival for the third year in a row!
Stapleton family sweep using the new “walking arm” trebuchet design!For the 3rd year in a row, the Stapleton family dominated winning the Lightweight division, Heavyweight division and Grand Prize for best design. Jonathan Stapleton brought back his “Stapleton Stick” which consistently threw well out of the 600 foot field. We awarded him 750 feet, but it may have gone even further because we never found any of the missiles in the heavy brush! His son won the Lightweight division with a Murlin design. The “Stapleton Stick” design was copied by 2 other competitors and all the other designs (except one) were based on the floating arm design which dominated in years past. Only one trebuchet used the tried and true design from 2000 years ago with a huge oversize and overweight trebuchet which was there to put on a show and won 2nd place in the Heavyweight division. All the trebuchets performed amazingly well and kept the spectators there for the entire event because they didn’t want to miss any amazing chucks!
Special mention:Ray Chamberlain from Moosilauke, NH won the Middleweight Open division with his floating arm design; his arm has won in the past at least twice. Normally his brother Ed competes with a heavyweight design, but he broke his arm (trebuchet arm, not human) just before the competition and stayed home this year.
Giant fighting robot:Joshua Nye of
Nye Mechworks brought his huge giant fighting robot. It is built on a snowblower and he rides inside the creation driving and operating the robot’s arms using switches. You can check out his website for more details:
nyemechworks.comResults of the trebuchet contest:Lightweight Division (age 10 and under, trebuchet limited to 20 lbs. and 41”)
- 1st place trophy plus $100 cash: Orion Stapleton from Vermont.
Middleweight Junior Division (age 17 and under, trebuchet limited to 100 lbs. and 70”)
- 1st place trophy plus $100 cash: Steven McCann from Maine. (MAX D 23)
Middleweight Open Division: (any age, trebuchet limited to 100 lbs. and 70”)
- 1st place trophy plus $100 cash: Ray Chamberlain from NH (Moosilauke Hurlers)
- 2nd place trophy plus $50 cash: Tyler Barnard from VT. (Walker Texas Flinger)
- 3rd place trophy plus $25 cash: Dan Roebuck. (Two Weeks Notice)
Heavyweight Division: (any age, trebuchet limited to 500 lbs. and 120”)
- 1st place trophy plus $100 cash: Jonathan Stapleton from VT.
- 2nd place trophy plus $50 cash: Nick Helms (Weapons of Medieval Destruction)
Grand Prize Best Design trophy plus Umiak kayak trip for two prize: Jonathan Stapleton
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Chili Cook Off:The chili cook off was a great success with four competitors and running out of chili before the end of the festival.
- 1st place trophy and $100 cash: Carter Peck
- 2nd and 3rd place winners also received a trophy and cash prize.
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Sponsors and Volunteers:Thanks to our main sponsor, Stoweflake Mountain Resort and Spa for letting us use their beautiful field for free, as well as all the other sponsors:
Middle Weight Sponsors – Coldwell Banker Carlson Real Estate, Community National Bank, Jay Peak Resort, In Company.
Light Weight Sponsors – Casella, Deb’s Place, Donald P. Blake, Jr. Inc., Edward Jones – Caren Merson, Leaves of Change VT, N.A. Manosh, Nye Mechworks, Points North Physical Therapy, The Alchemist, The Bagel, The MSI Group, Umiak, Yellow Turtle.
Special thanks to John Prittie for being the Master of Ceremonies and helping for the last 9 years, to Amy and Molly for registration and calculating the winners, to Mike Dunn for excellent sound system and House Dunn (Mike, Isabella, Jocelyn and Julia, and John Smyth for great music, Joshua Nye for bringing his robot to the festival and to Dan McLaughlin for tent setup.
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, Sept. 25th, 2022 at the Stoweflake.
Dave Jordan
Festival organizer
161 Henway Road
Morrisville, VT 05661
