The Great Pumpking Toss of 2019 featured a trebuchet, which unfortuently won't be available this year. (Nanaimo Science and Sustainability Society's Facebook page.)

By Jordan Davidson

smashing pumpkins

VIDEO: Great Pumpkin Toss expected to be a smashing good time

Nov 6, 2021 | 5:51 AM

NANAIMO —If your Halloween jack o’lantern is still in one piece, the Nanaimo Science and Sustainability Society (NSSS) would love to change that.

The Great Pumpkin Toss will blast pumpkins out of a cannon on Saturday, Nov. 6 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the field near the East Wellington Fire Hall.

Elaine Parker, executive director at the NSSS, said they first hosted the event in 2019 with the idea to make it an annual event, but it was called off last year due to the pandemic.

“It’s an opportunity to give a former jack o’lantern and pumpkins that have been grown for the season a really quite spectacular send-off, let’s just say.”

Along with a catapult, there will be a hydraulic cannon on site which will launch pumpkins over 350 metres into a farmer’s field where they will be left to decompose and be eaten by local cattle.

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There will also be a concession on-site, activities for the kids and even a bonfire put on by the East Wellington fire department. All proceeds raised including donations from the public will go to support the Nanaimo Child Development Centre.

Parker says she and the kids from the NSSS will be on hand to help with the activities and teach them the science behind their culinary cannons.

“We are going to tell them a bit more about the science behind ballistics and things like trajectories and the various forces that are in play when something flies or falls.”

The event is open to all ages and as long as your pumpkin is still in relatively good shape and not rotted through, it can be used as a projectile. Even if it’s not in good shape, Parker says they can be used for target practice.

The NSSS is a non-profit organization, in operation in Nanaimo since 2010.

The group works with younger children through day camps, after-school clubs and workshops. Their goal is to inspire families and develop an interest in science and sustainability through hands-on learning.

More information is available at nanaimoscience.org, or on Facebook.

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