Thousands attend USU's annual pumpkin toss competition

LOGAN — Nothing beats a crisp October morning to watch hundreds of pumpkins launch into the air on medieval catapults and smash dozens of targets.

That's exactly what almost 5,000 people did in Logan on Saturday for Utah State University's annual pumpkin toss, which was run by USU College of Engineering.

At least 22 teams signed up for the event, but three dropped out before the competition because of design constraints or the trebuchets breaking while being built. Out of the 19 teams that were able to show up to the event with their trebuchets, about eight of the medieval catapults broke during the event.

Teams came from local colleges, high schools and even some Logan businesses. USU leaders said the event's main purpose is to connect students with local community members each year.

"We provide the materials for teams to build (trebuchets), and then we have other colleges come, and industry teams come, and then we all just throw pumpkins at a ton of random targets," said Matthew Ashton, president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers at USU.

Although tossing pumpkins is fun, Ashton said the event is a great way to get community members together.

"One of the big focuses of the pumpkin toss is to get the community together, so it's not just about Utah State teams, but it's also teams from the local high school," Ashton said.

A team from Skyview High School builds a trebuchet every year; BYU-Idaho showed up to the event, and the University of Utah had to cancel due to logistical problems.

Jason Barker, a junior at USU, said the school's trebuchet worked well for the first five or six launches before the medieval catapult experienced some problems during its last toss. That's when a pumpkin slipped out of the sling, and all of the weight went into the trebuchet, causing an axle to slip out and twist off.

"It's pretty much just lumber, screws, a little bit of wood screws and a whole lot of faith and dreams," Barker said.

By the end of the event, BYU was announced as this year's winner. To win, points are added together from competitions like an accuracy competition, which included hitting a BMW. There was also a distance competition, and judges evaluated appearance before picking their favorite trebuchet. Out of 100 total points possible, BYU got 91.3. The team was able to shoot its pumpkin two football fields away.

Emi Dahl, a junior in mechanical engineering at Brigham Young University-Idaho, spoke about what it was like for her team to take home the win this weekend. The team launched its pumpkin 179 yards, not only winning using a trebuchet that has been in commission for 20 years, but breaking the school's personal record and the event's record.

"We feel really proud to represent our school," Dahl said. "A lot of people don't recognize BYU-Idaho all the time, and so we're trying to make a name for ourselves, and represent us as engineers."

"A lot of people have the internal desire to watch something explode, or like blow up," Ashton said. "And the good thing about throwing pumpkins is it's relatively safe, but it still blows up. Today, the biggest cheer we had was when the small toy car got knocked off the top of the big car with a pumpkin, and it all exploded."

The pumpkins are recycled from North Logan City's pumpkin art walk, which took place last week.

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