The Champaign Urbana Schools Foundation Fundraiser is shaping up to be the HOT TICKET of the year.  They have tons of sponsors and have “sold” 25 pumpkins for ACME to hurl at the city bus!  We are trying to convince the radio DJ to broadcast from inside the bus while we hurl pumpkins at it !!!

Be sure to mark Sunday November 1st on your calendar and come be part of the fun.   The event is located at the corner of West Olympian Drive and North Prospect Ave, in Champaign Illinois.  There is easy access off of Interstate 57. 

 Here is a link to the Channel 15 TV station promo spot.

Channel 15 Promo

Mortons annual event, and our home court contest, was called off this year due to weather related crop conditions.   Since the crops were planted so late, they were not ready to harvest, so no site was available.  Hopefully next year will be better. 

So on October 10th we hauled the ACME catapult down to Girard, IL (south of Springfield) and spent an afternoon hurling pumpkins into a standing corn field. We had a good time as along with 4 air cannons and a few other machines, we drew a fair sized crowd.  Aproximate “line of site” measurements of throws were taken and ACME brought home the award for longest mechanical machine.  The local Q-9 air cannon won their catagory as well. 

Get ready for the 13th Annual Morton Punkin Chuckin Contest to be held at the corner of Allentown and Springfield Rd, on the weekend of October 17th and 18th.   Catapults, Trebuchets, and Air Cannons fill the air with punkins.  Great fun, food, and friends. For more information visit:

 http://www.mortonmagnet.com/chuckin.php

Be sure to check out the new ACME Catapult videos on YouTube. 

Morton Punkin Chuckin Music Video by Jina B.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLNiPzp66Fw

Country Pumpkin Bash at Red Ridge Riding Stable 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYdX5VDs7Jw

Nekoosa WI Appliance Toss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b9YmzWL46Y

What a great event!  We had a long, foggy drive that morning, but the sun was out for the parade prior to our set up in the “melon” field.  Actually it was a series of soccer fields, until the competitiors peppered the ground with melons.  We threw for exibition, and with the park buildings as our backdrop, 1500 feet away, we “laid’ melons at the base of the water tower, and sprayed a port-a-potty with melon guts!! 

Thank you Jim and Caroline!

This spring we set up the ACME Catapult and did a little testing before the neighbors crop emerged from his field.  Throwing 8-10 pound bowling balls we verified some launch pin suspisions we had last fall and made some corrections.  The resulting distance improvements were very rewarding!

We are doing normal maintenance on the catapult and the ACME  ”bam-bulance” tow vehicle, in addition to tweaking some of our set up procedures.

 OUR SCHEDULE…

We are making plans to visit a new venue this September 5th when we will be at the “Melon Propellin” contest at Lake in the Hills, west of Chicago, Illinois.  Watermelons are such fun to “hurl”!  Go to: http://www.summersunsetfest.com/melon.htm for more information on this event.

Of course we plan on participating in the local Morton Punkin Chuckin contest on October  17th and 18th, 2009.  Go to: http://www.morton-il.gov/ and search the “Tourism” link for more information on Punkin’ Chuckin’.

In additon we have been invited back to the Red Ridge Ranch Annual Country Pumpkin Bash in Mauston WI.  That event takes place on October 24th and 25th this year.  Visit http://www.annualcountrypumpkinbash.com/index.htm for more information about the “Country Bash”. 

In early December we had fun hurling watermelons on a cold and icy day.  We were enlisted by Motorola to help produce a promotional video featuring the new military spec Tundra cell phone.  We duct taped the phone to 15 pound watermelons and tossed them out into a cornfield.  We even hurled the same phone twice and it still worked.

To see us hurl a Motorola “Tundra” cell phone duct tapped to a watermelon, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiJUtufFxyI or  go to You Tube abnd search for “cell phone catapult”.   

October 9, 2003: After working all summer, we finally made our appearance on the Tonight Show on October 9, 2003. We were “disguised” as the Sears Catapult Team and threw old appliances to promote the “Toss Your Hog” theme for Sears energy saving month. What a great experience! We had a blast in Hollywood and got to meet Jay Leno, and Dolly Parton came out during the show and fired the ACME Catapult! Hats off to the stage crew…they were great. We want to thank Marlene Tsareff for putting the whole event together.

Group Photo, Tonight Show backlot
(photo credit: Patty D)

Commercial Break, Tonight Show backlot
(photo credit: Patty D)