Max Riffner

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Pumpkin Smash 2007

Our bounty: loads of rotten pumpkins, waiting to meet their destiny at the end of a baseball bat or golf club.

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It’s that time of year again. Time to destroy all pumpkins! The last time I actually posted about the Riffner Pumpkin Smash was way back in 2004, so for those not in the know, here’s a recap:

My mother used to get loads of pumpkins to decorate the house with during the fall. It was usually left up to me and my little brother to discard these pumpkins in the field behind our house once Thanksgiving had come and gone. Sometime when I was in junior high (I think), my brother came up with the ingenious of idea of destroying all pumpkins with our baseball bats instead of just tossing them into the field. So we would get covered in pumpkin guts and have a good time. Somewhere along the way in the last 15 or so years, my parents got actively involved in the Smash (as we were now calling it), and they started to invite their friends over, and some of our friends started coming over, and now, it is a large event that takes a good three hours to get through!

It was a balmy 47 degrees for the 2007 Smash. No injuries. We almost had too many pumpkins this year. My brother and I sat for awhile, drinking beer and talking about the future of Pumpkin Smash. The batter’s box (if you will) gets really slippery from all the pumpkin guts, so we were thinking of ways to counteract that. We are also thinking of judges cards for people to hold up. I also floated the idea of swords, which gave my brother pause. Strange, since I’m usually the voice of reason, but he’s a teacher now, so maybe that’s where this new found common sense is coming into play.

My new little camera is fantastic – it actually takes video! So I captured about 6 seconds of a good smash. You can hear my brother proclaiming how great the hit was.

Check out the video on YouTube!

You can also browse through the Parlor archives.