Punkin chunkin
Punkin chunkin competitions, formal and informal, exist throughout the United States in the autumn, particularly in early November as a means to dispose of surplus pumpkins from Halloween.
The Guinness world record shot is held by a pneumatic cannon dubbed "Big 10 Inch", at 5,545.43 feet (1,690.25 m), on September 9, 2010, in Moab, Utah.
[3] The range achieved by devices depends on their mass, shape, and size; the yield limits, stiffness, pitch, and elevation of the hurler, and the weather.
[8] A variant of the competition, the pumpkin shoot, emphasizes accuracy over distance, as competitors aim to hit a specific target.
[9] World Championship Punkin Chunkin (WCPC) was the name of an annual contest held the first full weekend after Halloween in Delaware from 1986 through 2013 and in 2016.
The event also featured amusement rides, food vendors, fireworks, live concerts, a pumpkin cooking contest, a chili cook-off, the Miss Punkin Chunkin pageant, and other attractions.
[12] After considering a move to a location in Maryland,[13][14] the organization announced plans to revive the World Championship Punkin Chunkin contest for 2016 at its previous site in Bridgeville after the insurance concerns were addressed.
[16] Organizers cited better state protections against liability in Illinois compared to Delaware, Illinois' status as the country's most prolific pumpkin growing state, the fact that the former air force base is a brownfield that does not need to be cleared of crops (allowing the event to be held a few weeks earlier in the season), and lower costs for police and fire protection.
[17] The 2019 World Championship was substantially downsized (in terms of number of competitors) due to the relocation, as many of the Delaware regulars were unwilling to trek across several states to partake.
[18] This allowed for a more intimate experience (spectators could visit the contestants in the pits before the competition began), but also led the organizers to believe the event would run at a financial loss for them.
[17] For 2020, the organizers sought to return to the eastern United States but were unable to do so because of coronavirus restrictions; the event was to be held in 2020 in an altered format, but organizers again claimed they could not find a host "in (a state) with favorable liability laws;" they also declined to hold the event in 2021, citing "many obstacles in our path in recent years - some well known and others, not so much(.)"
[citation needed] The first televised Punkin Chunkin special was aired by the Discovery Channel in 2002, hosted by Bryan Callen.
In 2008, after a six-year hiatus, Punkin Chunkin returned to cable television on the Science channel as a 1-hour program, hosted by Brad Sherwood.
