Plump pumpkin-

 

A 760-pound pumpkin took top honors at the recent Agricultural Fair sponsored by The Eastern Shore of Virginia Chamber of Commerce. The pumpkin was grown by Doc Brown of Eastville. (Photo and info from the Eastern Shore Post.)

Punkin Chunkin This Weekend !!

When it comes to performing before large outdoor crowds, Discovery Channel's "Mythbusters" hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman have some experience.

After all, it was just last weekend when the duo warmed up the crowd at Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" in Washington D.C.

On that day, aerial photography analysis commissioned by CBS News estimated that the rally drew about 215,000. So when Savage and Hyneman host this weekend's Punkin Chunkin, which drew about 80,000 people last year, their nerves should be calm.

With about 115 teams competing in the pumpkin-flinging event and Discovery Channel television crews crawling across the Wheatley farm working on this year's specials, Punkin Chunkin Association spokesman Frank Shade has a prediction for this weekend: "Absolute chaos -- controlled mayhem."

For the third year in a row, Discovery Networks will produce a special at this weekend's event to be simulcasted Thanksgiving night on both the Discovery and Science channels with Savage and Hyneman serving as hosts. A one-hour "Road to Punkin Chunkin" documentary will air the night before, Nov. 24, on the Science Channel.

"Next to football games, turkey and pumpkin pie, Punkin Chunkin is a national Thanksgiving tradition," Clark Bunting, Discovery Channel president and general manager said in a statement announcing this year's programming, which will be filmed at the event site near Bridgeville at the Wheatley Farm.

It's hard to underestimate the power of the Discovery Channel exposure for Delaware's quirkiest event, which officially kicks off Friday at 7:30 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m. Sunday with the naming of this year's champion. Before 2008, the event drew about 30,000 to 50,000 spectators. Last year's record crowd of 80,000 is expected to be surpassed this year.

"We could go well into six digits," Shade predicted. "The Discovery folks have put us over the top."

Mike Sorensen, executive producer of the Science Channel's Punkin Chunkin specials, said last year's Punkin Chunkin coverage was the highest-rated special in the channel's history, drawing in plenty viewers across the country to watch what was once Delaware's own secret.

"It's American ingenuity at its best," Sorensen said. "People get a peek into this world. The machines are incredible. The people are great. And they are really into it, fighting for bragging rights."

This year, the television crew for the specials have doubled to about 40 people, he said, adding that slow motion cameras and new technology usually used to track golf balls for television audiences will be used for the pumpkins for the first time.

Punkin Chunkin's relationship with Discovery goes back to 2003, when the cable network first produced its first pumpkin-filled hour-long special. Back then, about 65 machines competed in front of about 25,000 people. The television exposure wasn't completely new. In the mid-'90s, "The Late Show with David Letterman" famously flung pumpkins down 52nd Street in Manhattan and several cable networks have aired segments on the event over the years.

Sorensen said Savage and Hyneman are perfect to host Punkin Chunkin and the pair will lean on their own engineering expertise while inspecting the machines and interviewing participants.

"This is absolutely their territory and their crowd," he said. "Their engineering knowledge is unmatched. And I think once we get them with the characters there and their machines, it'll be such a great fit. This event was really made for these guys."

IF YOU GO

WHAT: 25th annual World Championship Punkin Chunkin

WHEN: Friday through Sunday, with the winner announced at 5 p.m. Sunday

WHERE: The Wheatley farm near Bridgeville. From U.S. 113, take Del. 40 (Redden Road) west to Chaplain's Chapel Road. Turn left, and the site is straight ahead on the right.

COST: Admission is $9 per adult and $2 parking per vehicle. Children under 10 are free.

FULL SCHEDULE AND DIRECTIONS: www.punkinchunkin.com.

www.delawareonline.com

Wisconsin Pumpkin Is World's Heaviest

World's heaviest pumpkin but not the most attractive........can't have everything, even in the pumpkin patch.


NEW RICHMOND, Wis. (AP) - Guinness World Records has confirmed that a massive pumpkin grown in Wisconsin is officially the world's heaviest.

The gourd grown this year by Chris Stevens of New Richmond tips the scales at 1,810.5 pounds. That's 85 pounds heavier than the previous record, a 1,725-pound pumpkin grown last year in Ohio.

Stevens' pumpkin has a circumference of 186.5 inches, or more than 15 feet. When turned on its side, the pumpkin is more than waist-high to an average-size person.
Stevens unveiled his pumpkin earlier this month at the Stillwater Harvest Fest in Minnesota. He said at the time his secret is a precise mixture of sunshine, rain, cow manure, fish emulsion and seaweed. www.wtop.com

Chincoteague Elementary School Pumpkin Tour

CHINCOTEAGUE -- The Chincoteague Elementary School Parent Teacher Association's Pumpkin Tour will be held at the Island Nature Trail on Saturday, Oct. 23, from 6:30-8 p.m.

Carve a pumpkin and donate $5 to the PTA to have a pumpkin displayed on the tour. Prizes will be awarded.

Businesses, organizations and families are invited to participate. Bring flashlights. Admission is $1 with refreshments available for purchase.

Contact Joanne Moore 443-569-9003 for more information.

I love pumpkins. I love the pumpkin pies made from them. The birds enjoy the seeds. But the one use of the pumpkin that seems to be scarce anymore on Halloween is the carved jack-o-lantern. Every year there are jack-o-lanterns in my yard.

I've had them stolen and smashed in the street. Many people have. But I read a heart-warming story today that makes me still believe that there are nice people in this world.

Someone played a Halloween trick on two neighbors in Manassas, Virginia Saturday night by stealing their pumpkins from the front porches of both homes.

It seems the one basketball sized pumpkin taken from one porch was returned with two triangle eyes, a triangle nose and a mouth with two teeth missing carved into it. The neighbors stolen pumpkin was returned to her porch too, with one eye carved like a star.

One of the neighbors commented: "It's Halloween. I guess people do strange and weird things."

And yes, people do. I've just never heard of this happening before. And I wish the "pumpkin carver" lived near me to help with mine!