We have just returned from the reddest, "red state" extravaganza that I have ever participated in. It made a NASCAR race look like a wine and cheese party hosted by the poetry club.
The
Delaware Punkin Chunk (world championship) was pure epic awesomeness.
Truly, no other country (no sensible one, anyway) would devote such time, energy and engineering to throwing a pumpkin. No one else would tackle the hard problem of spending 25 years breeding a hardier pumpkin to survive the stress of being launched into the air by trebuchets, onagers, centripitals and air cannons. (solution: use white pumpkins and feed them lime).
I now assure you that I have seen pumpkins thrown over 4000 feet. I can say this with confidence since the helpful folks from the Guinness book of world records were on hand to verify the distance with differential GPS and laser range finders.
The guys from Mythbusters were also there but we didn't see them much to the disappointment of my kids.
Words fail me so I will let the pictures speak for themselves. Click on the photo below (I've also thrown in a few Halloween shots at the end).
