STOWE – Picture a towering wooden frame, its counterweight suspended in the air. A leather sling cradles its cargo. Someone pulls a rope. The counterweight drops. The arm whips forward with a crack. The payload sails through the sky.
Centuries ago, that payload would have been a boulder aimed at castle walls. But last Sunday at Stowe Events Field, it was a pumpkin flying nearly 900 feet.
The 16th annual Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin’ Festival drew teams and spectators from across the country to witness custom-built trebuchets compete for distance.
For organizer Dave Jordan, it all started with a teenage fascination.
"I built a trebuchet when I was about 14 years old, and when I fired it, the counterweight pulled right through the wood," Jordan said.
Years later, he spotted a massive trebuchet on Route I-89 near Montpelier. The owner of the contraption said he used it to throw pumpkins before the season ended. Jordan, feeling inspired, went home and searched online for fellow builders.
"I really wanted to have a trebuchet contest," Jordan said.
Jordan’s first festival in 2009 drew five teams and about 300 spectators to Boyden Farm in Cambridge.
According to Jordan's estimate, attendance grew once he partnered with long-term collaborator Becky Gagne who works with the Clarina Howard Nichols Center, an organization aiming to end domestic and sexual violence in Lamoille County. Jordan and Gagne raised $40,557 for the organization at this year’s festival with help from the 2,500 spectators.
"The biggest I ever got without (Gagne’s) help was maybe 900 people," Jordan said.
He credits Gange for year-round promotion of the festival and additions like food trucks and craft vendors. This year featured eight food and drink vendors, 38 craft merchants, live music from local Vermont band, Ok Commuter, a chili cook-off and a volleyball tournament. The festival has earned USA Today's recognition as the 2019 Best Fall Festival in the nation.
The pumpkin launching competition divides trebuchets into three weight classes, with winners determined by which throws farthest relative to height. The current record stands at 861 feet in the heavyweight grouping.
Essex Teacher Jonathan Stapleton revolutionized the competition three years ago with a design that tips over, using the frame itself as a counterweight.
"That's the best design in the world," Jordan said. "Now everyone's copying him."
The trebuchet's appeal crosses generations and backgrounds. Fred Messer, a Vermont native who served in the Field Artillery branch in the military, attended with Donna Powell.
"I was interested in the technology," Messer said. "This is the forerunner of modern artillery."
Powell appreciated the autumn weather.
"Being outdoors this time of year is lovely, and winter's around the corner, so let's take advantage while we can," she said.
For some attendees, getting to the festival wasn’t as simple as a car ride; it took hours of flying.
Greg Gentry and David Green traveled from Georgia and Alabama to see the action.
"We're a long way from here," said Green, waving his arms in the direction of his Alabama hometown.
"Our wives really wanted to come. This was a bucket list item, believe it or not," Gentry said.
"This is cooler here than in the southeast," Gentry added with a grin.
Among this year's competitors was a team from Vermont State University-Randolph who made their heavyweight division debut.
Senior Keith Carrera said the team had been testing trebuchet designs on campus when faculty told them to enter.
"We were encouraged to do it last year, but we ran out of time," Carrera said.
This year, they sketched designs two and a half weeks before the festival, giving them just enough time for assembly with the help of professors and students from the school's Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative.
Some of the most advanced manufacturing equipment in the state is housed at their campus, Carrera said, noting that the collaborative hires students to do contracting work across Vermont.
Despite the quick turnaround, Carrera said the team was "absolutely" enjoying themselves.
The Community News Service is a program in which University of Vermont students work with professional editors to provide content for local news outlets at no cost.
