Punkin Chunkin cutting back on alcohol leeway
Tickets are now on sale for the return of Sussex County’s Punkin Chunkin, which is coming back from hiatus with stricter prohibitions on carrying alcohol into the event.
Organizer Frank Payton has stressed that no glass bottles of any kind can be brought to Punkin Chunkin this year, scheduled to take place Nov. 4-6.
The pumpkin-projectile event didn’t happen in 2014 or 2015 after a former volunteer sued the organization, and the Bridgeville farm where it took place, over an ATV accident that injured the volunteer’s spine.
The lawsuit was dismissed before it went to trial, but the farm’s owner initially said he wouldn’t allow the event to come back. The World Championship Punkin Chunkin Association, which started the event as a small affair in Lewes in the 1980s, at first explored moving the event to Dover International Speedway, and even considered spots on Maryland’s Lower Eastern Shore. But in the end, they found a new insurer and worked out terms with the landowner so the event could return to its Bridgeville location.
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Payton was quoted by WXDE-FM as saying event organizers are asking spectators not to bring their own alcohol, and a prominent message on the Punkin Chunkin website warns that “there will be no alcohol, tailgating or loitering allowed in the general parking area.” Tailgating passes for a reserved parking section can be purchased on the website punkinchunkin.com. Alcohol will still be sold by vendors at the event.
Punkin Chunkin is most well-known for its air cannon division, in which custom-built machines compete to push pumpkins as far as possible across a field; the record distance comes close to a mile, but isn’t quite there yet. Tickets for the event sold online cost $10 for Friday admission, $15 for Saturday or Sunday, or a weekend pass for $35 covering all three days. Children ages 10 and under are free.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Contact James Fisher at (302) 983-6772, on Twitter@JamesFisherTNJorjfisher@delawareonline.com.