With the Halloween season quickly approaching, pumpkin sales are thriving – but what do we do with the jack-o’-lanterns after the holiday?

Pumpkin smashes, where people can donate their pumpkins, smash them for entertainment and use the pieces for composting or animal feed, are rising in popularity. Two experienced pumpkin-smash hosts, Tom Twente from Grow Amsterdam NY and Dan Lilkas-Rain from the Town of Bethlehem, joined the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to share advice for planning a smashing event this autumn.

Twente said the pumpkin smash has become Grow Amsterdam’s signature event because not only do people love Halloween, but “smashing pumpkins is fun!”

This popular event brings together the community, adds revenue to the business and gets people involved in composting and recycling.

When looking for a location to host an event, ensure the space is accessible, has adequate parking and the flow of foot and car traffic can be monitored.

Both the Town of Bethlehem and Grow Amsterdam plan their event for the first Saturday after Halloween. Lilkas-Rain said during their first year, he was “blown away by how many parents and kids commented with things like ‘Wow, I thought the fun of Halloween was over on October 31.’ This is a great way to continue that another weekend.”

They keep the event close to Halloween so families don’t have to hold onto their pumpkins for long – and so the weather isn’t too chilly. Lilkas-Rain recommended keeping the event under four hours and creating separate pumpkin drop-off-only times prior to the event’s start time.

When advertising the event, lawn signs are beneficial to spread the word in nearby towns, along with posting on social media and providing press releases. Twente believes “you can’t communicate too much … you can’t repeat your message enough.”

Signage is essential to improve the flow of the event as well. This includes signs for the parking entrance/exit, pumpkin drop-off zones, bathrooms, food and beverage and any events or games. (Don’t forget to add signs to thank any donors and sponsors.)

Growers looking to earn more income from their pumpkins can consider hosting a pumpkin smashing event. Submitted photo

Some materials to have at the event include media/photo releases, volunteer forms, programs of events, email sign-up sheets, tents, tables, chairs and basic PPE. That’s a lot of materials to collect or rent, so to get the resources to fund it all, collect money through donations, fundraising events, grants and sponsorships and food sales.

When it comes to finding volunteers, it’s beneficial to host a pre-event meeting and give them with job descriptions of everything they may do. At the event, provide them with vests to distinguish them from the public, with name tags, and offer them water and a food voucher. Ensure each volunteer signs a waiver prior to working, that someone is always stationed at the volunteer table and switch up their jobs to keep them from getting bored.

Twente said, “If you smash one pumpkin, you’re gonna wanna smash more,” so selling extra pumpkins to attendees is a great way to earn more money at the event. He believes “you can really try to do it with a limited amount of funds, but the biggest expense is time.”

Twente and Lilkas-Rain spoke about three successful ways to smash pumpkins at your event: General smash zones, target zones and catapults. Smash zones should be cordoned off and monitored by a volunteer to ensure no one is in the way when the pumpkin is hit. To anticipate where pumpkin will splatter after they’re hit, provide at least 10-foot-square zones with empty spaces in between. Provide various implements/tools for attendees to use of varying weights and sizes. Avoid any spikes, and don’t allow people to bring their own tools. Lilkas-Rain’s host takes things a step further and names all of their implements, such as “The Veginator” and “Hook Smash.”

A target zone is an area with spikes at which people to throw pieces of their smashed pumpkins. Twente has tried multiple angles for the target and has found that 60º is ideal. Make sure to use sturdy materials, stake the targets into the ground and create a zone with a volunteer to keep everyone out of the throwing zone.

Twente provides two targets, one being 10 feet away from the attendee and the other 12 feet away.

Pumpkin catapults can be a lot of fun but must be used safely and correctly. Lilkas-Rain has a successful pumpkin catapult at his event – one they made themselves to be able to predict the direction and the power behind the swing. Attendees enjoy seeing the pumpkins explode on the concrete, so his catapult is on wheels to ensure they don’t land on previously smashed pumpkins that provide a cushion.

As with the other zones, make sure an area is completely monitored and blocked off from attendees to prevent injury.

After the event, the pumpkins can be composted and/or given to farmers as animal feed. Grow Amsterdam composts it, but starting in 2023, they provided some whole pumpkins to a farmer who feeds them to his cows and pigs. The Town of Bethlehem is able to compost the pumpkins on site and incorporates pumpkin bits into their growing food scraps composting program.

Pumpkin-smashing events can be fun for the entire family and can draw in a large crowd with limited funds – but hosting an event like this can be intimidating for the first year.

Lilkas-Rain said, “Your first event doesn’t have to be too complex to be successful… You can start off pretty small.” Both Grow Amsterdam and the Town of Bethlehem have improved their events since their first year and they recommend more farms give it a try.

by Kelsi Devolve