Punkin Chunkin is back and punkin chunkers are already getting ready

They may be empty corn fields now, but come Friday, these fields will be packed with thousands of people and over 100 pumpkin launchers.

Punkin Chunkin President Frank Payton tells 47 ABC he couldn’t be more excited.

“What you see here right behind me is the most exciting thing that’s going to be happening in Sussex County, Delaware this weekend. Punkin Chunkin is back in Bridgeville, Delaware,” explains Payton.

Franks not the only one. Cal Foote has been an avid punkin chunker participant since 2011, after stumbling upon an ad on the internet.

Although he didn’t just drive up the road to be here. He and his family flew all the way from Sydney, Australia to compete in this year’s Punkin Chunkin.

He is debuting his newest contraption, The Chunka from Down Unda II, that he and his kids designed and built.

“One of the things that’s really important to me is to foster engineering skills in my kids, so my children helped me build this and they helped with the design,” says Foote.

Only a crate now, by Friday it will be fully formed.

“We’re going to put those weights into boxes and then we raise those boxes using an electrical wench and then when its ready to fire we let those boxes fall unwind the wench that spins up a motor and then that pumpkin slings off that rotar,” explains Foote.

Even though it’s a lot of time and energy that goes into making a machine that chucks pumpkins, Foote says its the spirit and camaraderie during the event that makes it such a fun family affair.

Foote’s punkin chunkin machine isn’t the only type of machine used to chuck the pumpkins. There are actually several different kinds and several different categories of competition.

Foote’s contraption is a centrifugal machine, one that builds up force through circular motions to launch the pumpkins in the air.

Punkin Chunkin President Frank Payton says there are five other machines people use as well including torsion or twisted rope and a crowd favorite, air cannons.

The builders of this air cannon expect it to launch more than 3,000 feet.

Aside from different machine types there are categories as well for kids to get in on the fun.

“Each team can win in their perspective categories. So we have the 10 and under and we have two classes there, they will receive medals and trophies and be able to go on stage and be recognized. 11 to 17 for each of their categories will get medals and trophies for that but there is going to be one overall winner of the entire competition and that is who can chunk a pumpkin the furthest,” says Payton.

Frank Payton says the overall winner doesn’t receive money, rather the satisfaction of being able to successfully launch the farthest pumpkin among 108 competitors.

The money made at Punkin Chunkin will be given back to the community at various non-profits.