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London, Ontario

My name is Luke Brown, and I'm a volunteer with Engineers Without Borders (www.ewb.ca) at the University of Western Ontario.

We're organizing a pumpkin drop as a fundraiser, where we will be hauling a large pumpkin roughly 100 ft into the air with a crane then dropping it on the ground. We had a 400 lb pumpkin lined up, but unfortunately it has started to rot, and I don't think that dropping liquified pumpkin from 100 ft will appeal to many people.

If anyone has any large pumpkins (preferably at least 150 lb) they would be willing to donate to this cause, or has any tips on where I could find such a pumpkin, I would very much appreciate hearing from you. We'd be more than willing to come out to a farm within a 200 km radius of London to pick it up.

The date of the drop is Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2005.

I can be contacted at brownluke@rogers.com, or phone at 519-280-5853.

Thanks!

11/8/2005 12:42:41 PM

Shoot I drive right through London every weekend. I could have dropped one off to you but I cut it up already. Good Luck.

11/8/2005 3:19:13 PM

Thornhill, Ontario, Canada

Luke, I have forwarded your request to the President of the Giant Vegetable Growers of Ontario (www.gvgo.ca). He doesn't know of any pumpkins around. We may still be able to find one before they get choped up. But, I imagine that most pumpkins would be at least partially rotted by now.

11/8/2005 5:44:39 PM

Picton,ON (j.vincent@xplornet.ca)

Well, I just cut up my last three on Sunday and they were all solid as a rock, including one I harvested the second week of september, then was on display indoors at the
Co-op for a month.

11/8/2005 8:07:06 PM

Leamington, Ont.

None here. I carved mine for halloween, now it's composting.
Hope you do find one though!

11/8/2005 11:18:13 PM

Thornhill, Ontario, Canada

Hey, Luke, maybe somebody who showed their pumpkin at the Royal Winter Fair still has one. There are probably a couple on display for the next week or so. I am going there tomorrow. So, I can do some scouting.

11/9/2005 12:15:10 AM

Cameron,ontario Team Lunatic

I'll contact the Lyons and see if they have one left or know of one somewhere.

Phil

11/9/2005 6:30:39 AM

London, Ontario

Marc: that would be fantastic if you could let me know if there's anything at the Royal Winter Fair.

Thanks very much for all the responses. This message board is a pretty great resource.

11/9/2005 12:25:44 PM

Picton,ON (j.vincent@xplornet.ca)

Arnold Vader is exibiting at the Royal!

11/9/2005 2:00:44 PM

Thornhill, Ontario, Canada

Luke: I saw a number of pumpkins yesterday. But, none of the growers. So, I am not sure how you would arrange to get one. Also keep in mind that I don't think that they can be removed until the end of the fair. So, you wouldn't be able to get them very far in advance. But, if you want to check ot who has pumpkins there, you can go to the RAWF 2005 results page here:

http://rawf.newsolve.com/Default.aspx?tabid=645

NB: I didn't see the 7th place entry there. It may have been removed if it started to rot.

11/10/2005 4:58:34 PM

London, Ontario

Marc: so the smallest pumpkin there was the 6th place finisher, at 746 lbs? How exactly do you transport a pumpkin of that size? I assume a pickup truck.. but in terms of hoisting it on and off.. do they use a forklift? Are they on skids? I'm not sure that I'll have access to a heavy-duty vehicle.

11/10/2005 11:47:56 PM

Long Island,New York

Engineers without borders and you are wondering about moving a 700lber? Geez...most engineers would take that on as a challenge>>>>> if they had both hands tied behind their backs, a budget of 3.98, and 14 seconds to complete the task......

11/11/2005 10:22:01 AM

London, Ontario

Haha, fair enough!! It definitely is a challenge. But part of engineering is problem definition. I'm trying to collect as much information as possible before coming up with an engineering solution!

11/11/2005 11:37:01 AM

Thornhill, Ontario, Canada

Yes, they are usually on pallets. A pickup truck and a forklift is one common way to transport. Some people use a trailer instead of a pickup. Some use a strong tarp and a whole bunch of manpower to move the pumpkin short distances or onto a vehicle. Others use some sort of tripod or frame lifting device with a winch or chain hoist (like this one: http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=28227).

11/11/2005 6:24:19 PM

London, Ontario

Just wanted to let everyone know that the Pumpkin Drop happened yesterday and was pretty damned fantastic!! Check out this article from the London Free Press if you're interested.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/CityandRegion/2005/11/16/1308900-sun.html

You can also see a few pictures at www.uwo.ca (but they won't be up for long there).

Chris Lyons helped us get a 750 lb pumpkin from the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. It made quite the splat!

Thanks for everyone's help.

11/16/2005 4:23:32 PM

Cameron,ontario Team Lunatic

Luke

I'm glad you were able to get a pumpkin. Next year ask a little earlier and there will be lots of pumpkins available. Thanks goes out to GVGO member Chris Lyons for helping the group get a pumpkin. Send me a picture or two so we can maybe put it in our next newsletter. Take care.

Phil Hunt
Pres. GVGO

11/17/2005 6:35:59 AM