The famous Punkin Chunkin pumpkin-launching event, long held in Delaware, has moved this year to Vinita, Oklahoma, just off Route 66.
John’s Tractor Works three miles east of Vinita is hosting the event. Festivities begin at 10 a.m. on Oct. 28. It’s being sponsored by the Vinita Rotary Club and MidAmerica Outdoors.
WBOC in Delaware reported the event had a few troubles in recent years and held the contest last year in Illinois:
However, logistics issues and legal troubles stemming from serious event injuries have left the event’s future in Delaware unsettled. Punkin Chunkin was not held in 2014 or 2015, and once again was put on hiatus in 2017 and 2018. The last championship was held in 2019, but in Illinois, just before the pandemic put a temporary stop to most large public events.
Competitors can use devices — including catapults and air cannons — to throw pumpkins 4,000 feet and longer. The organizers long have held a goal to have a pumpkin in the air for a mile. The competition has been going on for close to 40 years.
Here’s a short film from the 2016 event in Delaware:
(Partial image of the Punkin Chunkin promotional flyer in Vinita, Oklahoma, via Facebook)
This was in Rantoul, IL a couple years ago. Attendance was extremely poor. It seems like it is an east coast institution that just can’t find any footing away from the east coast. I volunteered to measure pumpkin flying distance. No safety shelters or measures were in place. We were basically dodgeball targets on the pumpkin landing field, and the pumpkins were going > 100 mph. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG4rXpES-ww