The pumpkins are coming into Libbys Cannery here in town, so we know its chuckin season!  Here’s what we have scheduled this year…

Saturday August 20th we are hosting a bus tour at Bob’s.  We will be hurling a few ice balls into the corn field.

Friday and Saturday September 2nd and 3rd.  “MELON PROPELLIN” This is an awesome event at the Lake in the Hills Summer Sunset Festival.  We will be at the Morretti’s Ristorante & Pizzeria at 220 Randel Road in Lake in the Hills Friday evening to show off the catapult and promote the Melon Propellin Contest.  Saturday morning we will be in the parade and then the hurling starts that afternoon.  This is a fun and exciting event and we are looking forward to lobbing some great hang time shots this year.  For more info, go to: http://summersunsetfest.com/ . 

Check them out on Facebook too: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-In-The-Hills-Summer-Sunset-Festival/141843774400.

Saturday September 17th.  The Pumpkin Festival parade.  Yes, we will be handing out candy and playing some mellow tunes!

Saturday and Sunday October 15th and 16th.  The annual Morton Punkin Chuckin Contest.  Our home-court event.  If the weather is good, look for us to try for a new record distance this year. 

For more info, visit http://www.mortonmagnet.com/punkin_chuckin.php

The ACME catapult Team has gotten the mighty ACME Catapult out of winter storage and are preparing for spring testing and development.  Our hope is we can find a couple appearance/events for this summer and earn enough money for our trip to the World Championship Punkin Chunkin Contest in Delaware this November.

We are also looking for fun loving company sponsors to help us cover the expenses (mainly fuel) for the 1900 mile round trip journey to the east coast.  Sponsors would recieve exposure at any event we attended during the year.

Here is a link to a three minute video of the ACME catapult in action.  For more videos, go to our links page.

http://youtu.be/vGcyP3PvvLU  

We have posted a couple new videos on YouTube.  Check out the Belgium Punkin Chuckin Slide Show and also a short Video looking back at our appearance on the Tonight Show wiht Jay Leno and Dolly Parton.

Belgium Punkin Chuckin Slide Show

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uczHWicw7i8

The Tonight Show

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFrsdrr8UYQ 

Bob and I are back from our trip to Bikschote, Belgium to visit the European Punkin Chucking contest held September 5th.  We and our wives were the guests of Pascal and his wife Veerle. They and their three sons were very gracious and friendly hosts. We had never meet in person prior to our venture into their homeland.

The contest was fantastic and Pascal’s machine, ACME Catapult Europe, was the overall winner and new record holder with a hurl of 726 meters (2381 ft)!!! We have decided to form the first multi-country Punkin Chuckin Team: ACME Catapult International.  The Onager Team from North Carolina was second with a toss of 648 meters (2125 ft)…great job by Capt. Bob Carbo and his crew.

Pascal’s friend Franklin Kinget and the Ypes Team were a close third at 625.3 meters (2051 ft) with their mighty Excaliber “whipper” style trebuchet.  This machine is a wonder to watch, very smooth and powerful.  

Belgium is a fantastic county with much to see and very friendly people. We were able to visit several cities, including Brugge, Ieper, Ghent, and Nieuwpoort. We had many excellent meals and made several new friends.

I will post pictures as soon as I can go though the 700 plus photographs I took and choose the best to share.

In the meantime, check out these links from the Onager website:

Offical website for European Championship Punkin Chunkin

VTM video

WKRG.com video

WTV.TV video

KW news pictures

YouTube videos:

Excalibur

ACME Catapult

Onager’s 1st throw

Onager’s 2nd throw

Trebuchet

For more pics - go here

This You Tube video about the Morton Punkin Chuckin Contest has been out there a while, but here is a convienent link in case you have not seen it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnxn5lXrJgs

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