After Halloween, what’s the fate of all those pumpkins?
In Lancaster County, you can smash leftover pumpkins with a large rubber mallet, toss them off a lift and into a board covered in darts. There’s a pumpkin cannon, as well as three giant pumpkins: one over 2,000 pounds, one that fell on a car, and another that will glow in the dark. Pumpkin Smash Day – Saturday, November 5th wraps up the fall festivities at Cherry Crest Adventure Farm and Country Barn.
Why make a special day to smash a squash?
Jim Stauffer, owner of Country Barn, compares pumpkins to the stock market.
“The day after Halloween, you don’t want to have promotions,” he says.
Pumpkin carving day it’s a fun way to throw pumpkins. The event has grown over the past few years at a farm on Donnerville Road.
Festivities take place on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It’s a day to smash, smash and crush the last pumpkins on the farm. There will be pumpkin games like bowling and tic-tac-toe, as well as pie-eating contests and pumpkin rides.
Visitors can watch the pumpkins fall on the car from a cannon.
At 3 p.m., the 150-lb. the pumpkin will fall out.
Tickets are $15 with optional extras including a train ride and meal.
After the fun is over, some of the pumpkin pieces are turned into compost and some will become feed for cattle and pigs, Stauffer says.
That same day at Cherry Crest Adventure Farm in Ronx, Pumpkin Madness Festival the fall season ends. From 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., festivities include a corn maze and other activities.
You can bring your own pumpkins to “recycle” or collect pumpkins on site to drop from the elevator, throw at a board full of darts, smash with rubber mallets and hit in games. There are pumpkin throwing competitions.
For the giant pumpkins, a 1,673-pound pumpkin is dropped onto an old car at 3 p.m.
A 2,063-pound water-filled pumpkin will be dropped at 5 p.m.
At 7 p.m., a 1,150-pound pumpkin filled with glowing water will be dropped, followed by fireworks.
Tickets start at $21.95.
According to Cherry Crest, the largest pumpkin is about 450 pounds larger than last year’s.
If that sounds serious, think about this fall, the new big pumpkin broke records in the US, weighing 2,554 lbs.
The world record is even bigger: a A squash weighing 2,702 lbs grown in Italy last year.
Although there isn’t much of a market for pumpkins after Halloween, the seeds of these large pumpkins are a popular commodity. According to the farm, the producer of the largest cherry Crest pumpkin will scoop out the seeds before the fall.
Here’s more on how one father and son team grew a champion squash:
https://lancasteronline.com/features/entertainment/smash-pumpkins-and-watch-3-giant-pumpkin-drops-saturday-at-these-fall-festivals-in-lancaster/article_04d70014-56d4-11ed-bc77-fb94773cf6bb.html