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| Tom Peterson of Busti readies his catapult for competition
at the Busti Pumpkin Hurling Festival. His first shot went more than 600
feet. P-J photo by Joe R. Liuzzo |
|
| Tom Peterson of Busti readies his catapult for competition
at the Busti Pumpkin Hurling Festival. His first shot went more than 600
feet. P-J photo by Joe R. Liuzzo |
By DAVE DAHL
BUSTI — A Delaware couple repeated as champions in the sixth
annual Busti Pumpkin Hurling Festival on Sunday, topping their best distance in
last year’s competition by 80 feet.
Brenda and Wayne Sennett of Ellendale,
Del., launched pumpkins 3,220 feet from their cannon, Poor and Hungry, taking
first place in the cannon division for the second consecutive year. The Sennetts
will now compete in the world championships from Nov. 3 to 5 in Millsboro, Del.,
where they placed fourth last year.
Despite their status as defending champs,
Brenda Sennett doubted whether they would emerge triumphant again because of
fierce competition from a group of Howell, Mich., residents who fired gourds
from their cannon, Second Amendment.
‘‘I thought them other guys really had
us whipped,’’ she said. ‘‘It scared me. I didn’t think we were gonna do
it.’’
Second Amendment sent pumpkins 3,168 feet at the Busti firemen’s
grounds, where the festival annually raises money for the Busti Fire Department.
Contestant entry fees, admission fees and money paid by vendors to set up at the
event are used to purchase firefighting and safety equipment.
The only local
competitors to finish in the top three of the cannon division were Kurt Scott of
Sinclairville and John Giltinan of Russell, who took third with their launcher,
Old Yeller, shooting pumpkins 2,851 feet.
Giltinan said the amount of
machinery in the event can be frightening at times.
‘‘You’re just around all
that equipment and all that pressure,’’ he said. ‘‘It makes it scary. It’s more
dangerous than people think.’’
One spectator who made his first visit to the
festival found the pumpkin launching display impressive.
‘‘The hurlers,
they’re amazing,’’ said Gary Johnson of Celoron about the cannons. ‘‘Look at
these things. They’re monsters.’’
Winners in the catapult division, in which
hand-operated launchers lob pumpkins into a field, were John Huber of Frederick,
Md., whose catapult tossed a pumpkin 1,114 feet.
Taking second place was
Jamestown resident Bob Marshall, who whipped pumpkins 889 feet. A team from
Canfield High School in Canfield, Ohio, placed third with its throw of 511
feet.
In each division, first-place finishers win $300 while second-place
contestants receive $200 and third-place finishers get $100. The winner in the
cannon division takes home the Chief James Boswell Memorial Trophy, which has a
plastic replica of a pumpkin sitting atop it.
Rain and snow put a damper on
this year’s festival, said John Siggins II, the event’s lead organizer.
Attendance figures were not available, but a member of the Busti Fire
Department’s board of directors estimated that about 1,000 to 1,500 spectators
watched the pumpkins fly.
‘‘This was an off year because of the weather,’’
said Dan Anderson.
Cannons and catapults launch 8- to 10-pound jack-o-lantern
pumpkins into empty fields in the festival. A children’s portion of the event
involves throwing pumpkins by hand, but it was cut short by
precipitation.
Pumpkins used in the festival are different than pie pumpkins,
the type used for baking.
The festival is one of three annual fund-raisers
held by the Busti Fire Department. Other money-raising efforts are the Busti
Apple Harvest Festival, which took place two weeks ago, and a turkey party
raffle scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28.
Pumpkin Hurling 2000 Continued
The Busti Fire Department wishes to thank the Jamestown Post Journal for allowing us to reprint this article.
