Get smashed at ‘Pumpkin RAMpage,’ a new Philly punkin chunkin contest

In what may be one of the greatest collegiate flexes of all time, Thomas Jefferson University senior Aidan Harbison is storing the 8-foot-long, 400-pound crossbow he built with friends this month in the industrial design department’s senior studio. (Oh you got an internship at Goldman Sachs? Well Harbison has a gigantic crossbow).

“There’s not really any hiding it,” he said. “If we’re working in the studio and somebody walks by, they see it and stop and say, ‘This thing is insane!’”

It’s only been about a month since Harbison and his two classmates saw a flier on campus for “Pumpkin RAMpage” — Jefferson’s first punkin chunkin design contest — and decided to compete for the orange guts and glory of it all.

“We were impressed that this was actually happening,” Harbison said. “Growing up, I used to make potato cannons, so this is a very parallel kind of thing, launching vegetables.”

At Jefferson’s Alumni Field at its East Falls campus Saturday, Harbison and his Autumn Artillery teammates will pit their crossbow-style siege machine known as a ballista against launchers created by other student groups, like the Pumpkin Spice Girls, to see whose device can fling a five-pound pumpkin the furthest.

It’s either gourd big or gourd home in this contest.

Named in honor of the university’s mascot, Phil the Ram, the event is free and open to the public, said organizer Todd Kramer, associate dean of the College of Architecture, Design & Engineering (CADE).

“This, for me, feels a little like a whole Field of Dreams kind of moment, the only downside is there is nobody whispering in my ear: ‘Build it and they will come.’ I’m hoping they will come,” Kramer said. “The hope is to create a little block party atmosphere.”

A dozen teams signed up to compete with only about a month to design and build their launchers, but only two of those teams showed up for an optional test-run this week at Alumni Field. Kramer said he’s confident six or seven teams will be ready to compete by Saturday and a group of professors are considering entering a device of their own too.

On Wednesday, Harbison’s Autumn Artillery team, all of whom are seniors in Jefferson’s industrial design program, set up their crossbow-style launcher on a hill above Alumni Field. Next to them, another team of industrial design students — the Liability Launchers — set up their large catapult-style device called a walking arm trebuchet. The latter team built their launcher in just nine hours the day before, but they swore they spent a lot more time designing it.

To save on cleanup, the teams practiced with large exercise balls filled with sand. The Liability Launchers went first and after some initial hiccups, the team launched their ball an impressive 250 feet or so out onto the field.

“Yes! We did a thing!” Kramer said, when it worked.

Team Autumn Artillery faced a bit more difficulty. After propping up the top of their crossbow with a wooden pallet, they realized they needed to prop it up on the opposite end too. Someone found a random cinderblock with leaves stuck in it that did the trick.

Harbison had to wind up the crossbow then use a razor on the end of a long stick to cut a tow cable to launch it. When he did so, the ball launched about 10 feet and then dropped like a dud. If there was an accompanying sound it would have been “ploop” or “wah-wah.”

Two older men who were watching from a nearby parking lot laughed.

“That was like my wedding,” one of them said.

The trial run was “a bit of a disappointment” for Harbison, but he said he was grateful for the opportunity. Knowing what didn’t work will help the team implement some pumpkin patches on the device before Saturday.

“There will definitely be some improvements made,” he said. “I’m happy it kind of worked. It could have not worked at all.”

Punkin chunkin contests stem back to 1986, when the World Championship Punkin’ Chunkin’ Contest began as a local battle for bragging rights in a cantaloupe field in Lewes, Del. Within a decade, the contest grew to include dozens of teams, 25,000 spectators, and early-morning tailgating. The event, which allowed engine-powered launchers, was covered by ESPN and Sports Illustrated.

The contest was held annually through 2011 and sporadically after that through 2016, when it was discontinued in Delaware due to a personal-injury lawsuit filed by a Science Channel producer who suffered critical injuries when a piece of an air cannon dislodged and hit her in the head as she was covering the event.

Not to worry, none of the launchers at Jefferson’s challenge are air-powered cannons and students aren’t allowed to use gas or motors to power their devices. The footprint of their launchers may not exceed 5-by-8 feet and the throwing arm can’t exceed 20 feet in length.

Kramer said he was inspired to create the contest so Jefferson students can apply in the real world what they’ve learned in the classroom, though admittedly, “we don’t learn to make siege machines at school,” he said.

“I can’t guarantee every pumpkin will go 500 feet, but even if it goes 5 feet, they will learn from it,” Kramer said.

Jefferson’s contest was open only to students in its CADE program. Students picked their own teams and each team has between three and seven members, some of whom have different majors.

“It’s kind of the beauty of this. They’re not all straight architecture teams or engineering teams,” Kramer said. “We have one team that has three animators and an architect. It’s really lovely to see that cross-pollination.”

Each team will launch three pumpkins that are roughly 5 pounds each. The four teams who fling their pumpkins the furthest will then face off and launch two more pumpkins. The top two teams in that round will then compete in the finals. The winner is based strictly on furthest distance traveled by a pumpkin.

The champions will receive bragging rights, $500, and a trophy of a raging pumpkin with ram horns that was created using a 3D printer at the school.

Participation is extracurricular. No credits are given to contestants, who had to carve out time in their own schedules to create their launchers.

“It’s really about building the community and the culture of our college,” Kramer said. “I hope this will become a signature event for our university.”

RAMpage will take place rain or shine at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Alumni Field, 4201 Henry Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa., 19144.