World Championship Punkin Chunkin
World Championship Punkin Chunkin (WCPC) is the name of an annual pumpkin chunkin contest held the first full weekend after Halloween in Sussex County, Delaware. It is governed by the World Championship Punkin Chunkin Association (WCPCA).
Teams compete in the following divisions: Air Cannon, Female Air Cannon, Centrifugal, Catapult, Torsion, Trebuchet, Human Powered, Centrifugal Human Powered, Youth Air Cannon, Youth Catapult, Youth Trebuchet, Youth Human Powered, Youth 10 & Under, and Theatrical. Each division competes strictly for distance except for the Theatrical division which relies on a fan vote. The teams get three shots, one taken on each of three consecutive days. Only the teams' farthest shot is scored for official results. Spotters riding on ATVs find the impact point, and then a professional surveyor calculates the distance based on GPS coordinates of the impact and the machine. The impact point is marked with color coded spray paint to avoid confusion with future shots.
For the entertainment of spectators, the event also features amusement rides, food vendors, fireworks, live concerts, a pumpkin cooking contest, a chili cook-off, the Miss Punkin Chunkin pageant, et al.
Safety has remained the number one priority of the WCPCA. The sole fatality was a duck hit by a pumpkin that had been shot out of an air cannon.
The event originated in 1986. One of the event's early locations was in Lewes just off of DE Rte 1 - at the end of the field was a church that was thought to be out of reach. Due to increasing space requirements (distance of shots, number of teams, and number of spectators) the field was moved elsewhere in Sussex County.
In 2007, WCPC moved to its current location in Bridgeville, near the intersection of Seashore Highway (DE Rte 404) and Chaplains Chapel Road. About 75 teams competed, the event drew more than 20,000 people, and grossed more than $100,000 in ticket sales and associated revenues. More than 70% of that money will be donated to a variety of community organizations.
Read more about this topic: Pumpkin Chunking
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