Ryder Kelly of Flossmoor was able to get into a groove Saturday, throwing down 13 pumpkins into the bed of a truck at Coyote Run Golf Course in Flossmoor.
He confessed it was fun.
Ryder, 5, was a participant in the Chicago Southland Green Committee’s annual pumpkin smash event, a fun way for area families to dispose of their Halloween decorations in an environmentally responsible way.
The 2020 event was scaled back to account for the COVID-19 pandemic. Normally, the committee provides a range of entertaining ways to disintegrate retired jack-o-lanterns.
In recent years, there have been opportunities to pummel pumpkins with sledge hammers, fling them with a giant sling shot or watch them drop from a 30-foot lift.
Dave Ward, who has helped coordinate the event for years, said the task of trying to disinfect hammers and sling shots between each use and maintain adequate physical distancing seemed daunting, so the committee opted for a simpler approach.
Youngsters brought their pumpkins to the truck and were able to fling them down and, for good measure, give them a stomp or two in the bed of a truck.
Ward said he wasn’t expecting a turnout as big as past years.
“I’ve been happy it’s been steady, and people are enjoying themselves,” he said of the three-hour event.
The pumpkins collected during the event will be given to Possibility Place Nursery, which has a native plant sanctuary in Monee, according to committee member Carrie Malfeo.
She said the pumpkins help feed the soil there, which helps the health of the native plants.
Malefeo said another benefit of returning the pumpkins to the soil is it keeps them out of landfills where they would take up space and generate methane gas, which contributes to climate change.