So if you spend all season growing a 900 pound giant pumpkin, what do you do with it when the season’s over?
The town of Goffstown has come up with a creative use for these behemoths.
Turn them into boats and race them down the river.
New Hampshire Public Radio’s Amy Quinton reports on Goffstown’s Giant Pumpkin Regatta.
Brian Hanson has made history by building the first pumpkin catamaran. (Cheryl Senter, NHPR)
(1396 Tell everybody that’s getting in these boats we got to get them out…
1398 :02 Okay we’ll get you right in ….Bev here we go.)
A green-faced witch wearing a black pointy hat is about to sit inside a giant pumpkin.
The pumpkin - decorated and painted black with the top cut off - floats precariously on the Piscataquog River.
(Oh, Bev, you got to sign that…you look marvelous…I’m not signing a waiver, these are my witnesses)
This is Goffstown resident Bev Powden’s first pumpkin regatta.
(:38 Are you scared? Well yeah, look at the size of my pumpkin compared to everybody else’s.)
Her pumpkin is rather small, particularly compared to the seven other pumpkin boats on the river.
It’s Goffstown resident Brian Hanson’s first regatta as well.
He’s quite serious about this race, although it’s hard to take a guy seriously when he’s wearing a gorilla costume.
(This was originally a 680 pound pumpkin and when they grow really big they don’t really look like giant pumpkins like you see in Charlie Brown, they kind of get flat and kind of odd. And what they do, the pumpkin powers that be, the pumpkinologists here in town, tell you what size is going to float the best and then they hollow it out)
Dressed as a clown, Goffstown Police Chief Mike French gets last minute instructions before setting sail. (Cheryl Senter, NHPR)
A small trolling motor is then attached.
Hanson has made history by building the first pumpkin catamaran for the race, with two banana-shaped pontoons attached to each side of his pumpkin.
(Originally these were going to be bananas and I was going to throw bananas at the crowd, but logistically it just didn’t work out)
Other racing contestants include little red riding hood sitting inside a pumpkin decorated like the big bad wolf, a clown (who by the way is the Goffstown’s police chief), a few pirate ships, a dog in an animal ambulance, and Princess Leia in her X-fighter.
1392 (:57 today I’m driving an x-wing fighter because the forces of evil have grown close here in our community.)
People also know Princess Leia, as town selectwoman Barbara Griffin.
She’s holding two huge water pistols.
1392 (part of the fun is, it is water, and we will expect more than just the entrants to get wet today…WHY DO YOU DO THIS? Because no one else will.)
//
(1410 the fuse is lit, the fuse is lit, are we ready hold your years, {sound of cannon} the 2006 pumpkin regatta is underway)
The creator of the pumpkin regatta was none other than giant pumpkin grower Jim Beauchemin, with New Hampshire Pumpkin Growers Association and the emcee of the race.
Dressed as Princess Leia, town selectwoman Barbara Griffin ends up in the water after her pumpkin tipped. (Cheryl Senter, NHPR)
He says he created the pumpkin boat through trial and error.
“They’re like a fishing bobber floating, and it kept tipping over, tipping over, and I kept falling out, and so I said I got to figure out how to ballast this, settle this in the water, I put a hundred pounds of sand in the boat, ballast it properly you can’t tip it over, they float and we’ve gone from there.â€
(They’re jockeying for position, come on bring it up this way..Debbie, Debbie)
The first pumpkin regatta was held in Goffstown in 2000 –it’s now a tradition and a fundraiser for the Goffstown Main Street Program.
For first time spectator and Goffstown resident Mary Lisa Baker, the regatta was truly weird.
“Well we’ve never been here, this is so funny, they’re very daring, I wouldn’t do this in this cold, this is fun, this is really cute, real ingenuity, I wouldn’t do this with a pumpkin.â€
The pumpkin boats slowly make their way maybe 150 feet down river to the bridge in downtown Goffstown.
Only one contestant didn’t make it…
Princess Leia, a-k-a Goffstown Selectwoman, Barbara Griffin.
(Can you tell me what happened? The forces of evil were strong on the river, the warmup was great I was at the starting gate on time and when the gun went off my motor stopped)
Her pumpkin took on water as she was assisted out of the river.
But she says despite that, she’ll participate in the regatta again.
Rotary Club member John Hikel’s pumpkin boat won the race – for that, he wins the town’s recognition.
For NHPR news, I’m Amy Quinton.
So, could we perhaps try this with zucchini rafts? After all, there is only so much bread and relish one can make and distribute globally.
Yundah