SMOKY LAKE, Alta. — There’s something about watching a pumpkin being dropped about 45 metres from a crane onto a car and demolishing both that attracts a lot of people.
The pumpkin drop, initiated several years ago at the Great White North Pumpkin Weigh-off and Fair at Smoky Lake, Alta., is the grand finale of the day.
Crowds gather around the perimeter of the roped-off area and wait for up to an hour to watch the action.
This year, Oct 6, was no different.
Mammoet donated the use of a mobile crane unit and set it up near the recreation complex in Smoky Lake. Then organizers stripped an old car of its engine and glass, painted it up (this year is was green) and pulled it out onto the field.
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With the crane extended to its the fullest height, it lifts the pumpkins to 45 to 60 metres in the air — no one seems to have an exact figure.
A trip-rope pulled from the ground releases the pumpkin to fall crashing down onto the car. It takes only a second or so from the time the pumpkin is released until it crashes on the car below, but the crowds cheer and emit oohs and aahs on the impact.
