Get out your trucker hats, stonewash denim and handlebar mustaches: it’s time for the World Championship Punkin’ Chunkin’, lovingly known as “The Chunk” by veteran participants. In a cleared cornfield two and half hours outside of Washington in Millsboro, Del., hundreds of people gather to witness pumpkins soaring a distance of 3,000 feet to their splattering death. The weapons of choice are catapults, trebuchets, centrifuges and, best of all, cannons.
Every November, this beautiful marriage of seasonal produce and precise engineering brings competitors from all over the nation to test their chunkin’ abilities. Cannons and centrifuges the size of houses are affectionately given names like Hooter Shooter, Bad to the Bone, Redneck Dream and the Big 10 Inch. But more striking than all the engine-powered machines was the wooden trebuchet named “Yankee Siege.” This massive construction of Tolkien-like proportions (55 feet high) featured a large “hammer” counterweight that swiftly dropped to generate its pumpkin launching power.
Most of the time the pumpkins were traveling so quickly that it was impossible to spot the pumpkin’s trajectory until it landed. At one point, spectators (the author included) ran for their lives when a wayward pumpkin unexpectedly dropped from 1,000 feet into the crowd. The sonic boom of the cannons, the whoosh of the spinning centrifuges and the hushed fling of the catapults continued to fascinate and hypnotize the inebriated throngs despite the hazards.
While the idea of watching pumpkins explode in a field may seem moronic at best, the event has a surprisingly altruistic side, raising thousands of dollars to give to local communities, scholarships and charities such as St. Jude’s Research Hospital. In addition to the “no-holds barred” chili cook-off and the pumpkin-cooking contest, the Chunk is a great place to see live music, with this year’s opening concert featuring the Charlie Daniels Band. The competition even has its own rousing anthem to commence the pumpkin-hurling matches.
Other highlights include sketchy carnival rides, not one but two mechanical bulls and every type of sickening seafood concoction you could want. It takes awhile for the competition to progress, though, as each machine or catapult has to be prepared for each shot, so when you go next year, bring some chairs and try one of those nuclear orange pumpkin waffles they’re selling.
