Morton Pumpkin Festival

The Morton Pumpkin Festival was first held in Morton, Illinois in 1967; however, similar festivals had been held prior to this since the early 1900s. These early festivals weren’t always annual events and changed from year to year, depending on the theme and organization that ran it. Some years, there was no town festival. In 1967 the Morton Chamber of Commerce stepped in and established what is now the Morton Pumpkin Festival. It is now held annually from Wednesday through Saturday in mid-September. In 1978, Governor James R. Thompson declared Morton the “Pumpkin Capital of the World.”

Economic impact

The Morton Chamber of Commerce is the main organization that gets all of the festival activities scheduled. According to Jamie Sanders, events coordinator for the Chamber of Commerce, they count on more than 900 volunteers alone to help with the main food tent. It takes 50 people just to run a shift. All the money earned from festival stays within the community.

35 different businesses help out with volunteers to make the festival go smoothly. Morton Rotary club sells all the tickets to all of the activities and the business owners do all of the breakfasts and dinners. Morton Masonic Lodge sells food in order to be able to have money to grant scholarships to Morton High School seniors. The festival also impacts the economy of Peoria as well by providing an opportunity for tourist and motor coach tours. The businesses also partake in a window painting competition. All of the businesses downtown paint their storefront windows to the theme of the festival. The festival brings in people from all over the state to enjoy the festivities. Attendance was down in 2008 about 50 to 60% from last year due to the rain forecast for the weekend.

Food

Many attendees of the festival come just for the food, especially the pumpkin flavored food. Beyond the usual fair/carnival favorites and pumpkin pie, some of the other items include pumpkin chili, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin doughnuts, pumpkin caramel shake, pumpkin ice cream and pumpkin fudge.

The marquee food-related event typically happens on the Saturday morning of the Pumpkin Festival. Saturday morning showcases the all-you-can-eat Pumpkin Pancake breakfast. One price includes all the pumpkin pancakes you can eat, sausage, coffee & milk. All served under a huge tent with local children providing breakfast-time entertainment.

Punkin Chuckin'

The Punkin Chuckin' Contest is a tradition that involves giant contraptions that hurl, catapult, or shoot 5-10 pound pumpkins in the air into an open field. Competitors compete for the title of “Punkin' Chucker Supreme” with a one mile goal. The contest is now well over a decade old and is said to be modeled after the contest in Sussex County, Delaware the first weekend after Halloween, but Morton holds the world record for farthest pumpkin thrown. The contest takes place in an open field over a span of two days. Around 500 pumpkins are picked in advance specifically for the contest which sports both a youth and an adult competition. The youth competition uses pumpkins from 5 to 8 pounds and the adult competition uses pumpkins from 8 to 10 pounds. Before the main throwing begins there is a safety meeting, during which there is also a “hand throwing contest” with a one dollar entry fee. The contest moves from the youth section into the adult, giving each team one throw, then moves back to the beginning and starts again giving each team a total of three contest throws. In between throws there are short breaks in which teams throw for fun and try to aim at old cars placed in the fields for targets. The contest is all about distance and at the end of the second day a winner is declared.

The Punkin Chuckin’ Contest has turned out some pretty amazing machines, from trebuchets to air cannons, but one machine holds a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. The Q-36 Pumpkin Modulator is a 100-foot (30 m) long air cannon that fired a pumpkin 4,680 feet (1,430 m) for a world record (the record as of November 2010 is held by team Big 10 Inch at 5545.43 ft). The Q-36 has an 80-foot (24 m) barrel and a 1,800-US-gallon (6,800 L) air tank and tips the scale at 36,000 pounds (16,000 kg). A pumpkin leaving the tube flies at nearly 681 miles per hour (1,096 km/h) but loses velocity quickly. This cannon has been seen on the Late Show with David Letterman as well as another famous device, the Acme Catapult, which saw airtime on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 2003.

Performances

Performances in 2008 included: Morton High School (Morton, Illinois) Chorale Group, Central Illinois Banjo Club, New Odyssey, Central Illinois Performing Arts Performers, Jim Markum Swing Band, Singsations, American English, and Bloomsday.

Pumpkin King Court

In 1984, soon after the introduction of performances, the Morton Chamber of Commerce added a "Pumpkin King Court" competition. The event quickly gained popularity, and in recent years, is said to have been the source of nearly 60% of revenues. The format of the competition allows a group of randomly selected males to showcase their talents on stage for the coveted title of Pumpkin King. The winner, who is voted on by a panel small business owners, receives a crown adorned by pumpkin seeds, and free pumpkin ice cream for the remainder of the festival. In 2012, Tremont's Erich Drafahl was crowned Pumpkin King for his act, which he called "looking really good." The performance garnered millions of YouTube views and eventually national press.