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It seems that the local delinquents had their annual pumpkin roll last night and decided to help themselves to one of mine. Every year the high school seniors spend the months of Sept. and Oct. stealing pumpkins from everyones front yard displays. It's unbelievable to me that the parents, school administrators and law enforcement still condone this event. I can't believe that they stole almost an 800lb pumpkin that was 10 feet from my front door. I spent this morning at the road dept. garage picking through a huge pile of smashed pumpkin guts. I was able to locate two large chunks of it with much of the guts and even some seeds still attached. I was careful only to take the seeds that were still connected to the pumpkin remains. I was really looking forward to cutting it open and taking pictures to participate in David Hu's study. The worst part is that if these little animals would have just asked me for the pumpkin, I would have happily removed the seeds and donated it. I guess it's just more fun to be a scum bag thief. At least I still have another one to collect seeds to be traded. They were good crosses also. 1097.5 Beachy x 1333 steve connolly 05

11/5/2007 2:06:59 PM

Dillsburg, PA

Have dogs? If so locate a pumpkin out front and put some dog $*@) in the pumpkin.

11/5/2007 2:16:12 PM

ordinary,VA

Tony sorry to hear the about your pumpkin.the parents of the little thugs probably did the same thing when they were little thugs. be fun to walk up on them in the act and firring off ole bessy into the air.

11/5/2007 2:22:11 PM

ExtremeVegetables.com

I seen your pumpkin at the bottom of the hill this morning on the channel eight "Fox 8" news. My first thought was I wonder if that was someone's pumpkin that post on BP??

I figured you may have rolled it yourself, would have never thought anyone could have made off with an eight hundred pounder.
That annual pumpkin roll has been a tradition for like the past 34 years. I would think that bye now anyone who lives in that area would know a pumpkin sitting out on that night is a pumpkin that will end up at the bottom of the hill.

11/5/2007 3:50:51 PM

Greenhousin, are you saying that this is somehow my fault? By the way, this is not a sanctioned event of the village. Nobody knows what night they are going to do it. The only way the village gets informed is by a phone call at the last minute. By then the damage has already been done. you're right, next year, I'll be sure to fold down the all terrain tires on the sides of my pumpkin and roll it into the garage every night and back out the next morning. Tony

11/5/2007 3:56:43 PM

ExtremeVegetables.com

LOL no, I didn't say that it was your fault.

I was under the impression that it was a sanctioned event. This year it was postpone.
The news sure knows when it's going to happen every year, they have been talking about it for the past week.

http://www.myfoxcleveland.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=11D3AEF400AD1AC400220BEA28A45BE8?contentId=4810913&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1

11/5/2007 4:19:46 PM

ExtremeVegetables.com

Seems like a pretty fun event to me but I don't live there.
Those kids could be out doing a lot worse.

people now days want to shoot at kids or have them put in jail for pumpkin smashing, soaping windows and corning houses. All things we did as kids in fun.

11/5/2007 4:23:29 PM

ordinary,VA

greenhousin we all didnt do that as kids?

11/5/2007 4:27:27 PM

ExtremeVegetables.com

Poor you .

11/5/2007 4:29:00 PM

Georgia

Yeah I have to say unfortunetly these are things I did as a kid. Smash pumpkins..tp houses and egg houses. In hindsight I wish I hadent but its part of growing up I guess.

11/5/2007 4:31:24 PM

ordinary,VA

im fine thanks greenhousin

11/5/2007 5:14:42 PM

Ohio

I cant say I stole anything off anyone's property before, that just wasn't me and how I was taught, sure I did the normal kid things but I wasn't a hoodlum ether, local or sanctioned event or not, that still doesn't make it right for a town or parents to encourage to steal someones long hard work they spent the entire summer on, Why not knock on the door and ask them if you can have it? I dont get this?

11/5/2007 5:50:53 PM

Santa Rosa California

could try to grow a wagon wheel or spary when you put it on the front lawn spary the crap out with wd 40 it s to spillery for them to lift

11/5/2007 8:55:58 PM

Pumpkintown, SC

I feel quite safe in saying that those that have grown an 800lb pumpkin and the vast majority of all other growers on this site don't exactly find the stealing and destruction of the fruit of one's labor, cool, funny or a right of passage. Has it happened to you? BF

11/5/2007 10:29:34 PM

ExtremeVegetables.com

Of course you do. People usually feel safe when going along with the status quo.
Let me clear one thing up here before anyone else comes out with their pitch forks and nooses. I Never stated in this thread that what happened to him personally was cool, funny or a right of passage. I was refering to the event itself which has been an ongoing event for the past 34 years. I guess what I lack in moral standards I make up for in reading comprehension.
Perhaps someone should petition the local government to put a stop to this Halloween tradition? From watching these kids every year on TV they look as if they are having just too much fun with their "Trick-or-Treating"!

I feel bad for Tony1, and YES, I have had this happen to me. This is the excerpt from my 2003 diary.

"I proudly displayed my Pumpkin in the front yard that year.
that lasted about a week before someone "tried" to steal it.
A couple days before that a young fella stopped in to the house asking if he could buy it for his girl friend, said she just HAD to have it.
Well it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who did it.

I don't know what they were thinking. Did they bring the local high school football team with them.
While trying to carry it to the back of their vehicle they obviously dropped it and ,, Splat!!

I wasn't even a bit angry about it really.
I remember back to my younger days during the halloween season.
My friends and I thoroughly enjoyed going from house to house during the night, raising peoples punikins over our head, yelling PUNKIN SMASHHHH!!!! at the top of our lungs and just giving it all we could do blow that poor pumpkin to smithereeeeens.

It was just karma baby!!!
Coming back to repay me for exactly what I had done in my youth. LOL
I really did deserve it.
I just hope that punkin weighed enough to cover the weight of all the punkins I smashed in my early days.

Besides, I got exactly what I wanted, and that was good viable s

11/6/2007 6:19:02 AM

Grants Pass, Oregon

If these little thugs want a pumpkin, let them grow it themelves, then they can bust it up all they want.

11/6/2007 9:28:36 AM

Netherlands

My kids would never do anything like that.....

11/6/2007 12:32:10 PM

Napa Valley, CA

Yeah, I can understand kids wanting to have a good time but this "annual pumpkin roll" sounds like vandalism to me.
If someone took some of their video games or cell phones and tied them to a rock and rolled them down the hill, I wonder how the kids would feel about that.

11/6/2007 12:33:27 PM

Colo Springs CO

Tony;

Sad to hear Tony. Same thing happened to me night before last. Someone kicked in the two faces I carved into the wife's 916 and my 956 squash. The 1005, which wasn't carved had a big branch smashed into it.

I have a feeling I know who was responsible, but I don't think I should bother doing anything about it. If the person(s) that are responsible think it bothered me, it did not. I had one month to display 3 of the biggest fruits ever grown at my house, had them carved and displayed for Halloween, and they wouldn't last much longer anyway. It is sad only for those who didn't get to drive past and see them while they were still in good condition. Someone that disrespectful has problems of their own, and what goes around comes around to someone like that somewhere down the line.

Don't let it bother you in the least bit. You can't keep them around forever, at least now you don't have to light them up or cover them anymore. There is a bright side to everything...lol...

11/6/2007 12:51:20 PM

ExtremeVegetables.com

My apologies to Tony if I have offended you.

Honestly, the news footage every year makes this look as if it is a village sanctioned event. I have never seen the bad side of this until now and have been watching this on the news for the past several years. Each year they show the hill covered in pumpkins with kids sled riding down the hill on the pumpkin mush. Everyone is laughing and having fun. There are literally dozens if not a couple hundred people involved in this yearly ritual.
Is there a police station in town fer pete's sake!!
I mean how hard is it to watch the same hill every year?? And if this is not permitted by the local government why aren't people getting arrested??

The late seventies was a much different time. As kids we did do some of those things, but we never meant any harm in doing it. We waiting until the weekend after halloween when the pumpkins were rotting on porches and smashed them. The more grumpy neighbors and the school principal got toilet paper in their trees, their door bell rang, or a little soap on their windows, maybe some corn tossed onto the porch to startle them.
We had fun. No one ever got hurt and we never did any monetary damage.

11/6/2007 1:22:01 PM

Thanks to all of you who took time to reply and also those who e-mailed me. I am not offended by any replies. If you choose to post a message you must be willing to accept opinions of everyone, even though they may be different than your own. I spoke with the police and also a reporter who were both on the scene of the event. The police officer stated that most years they are not notified in advance, however this year they were. Also the reporter stated that she has been to 12 of these events and is always tipped off in advance so she can give the kids some publicity. They both told me that the pumpkin was split in half and used as a sled. It is unlikely that they will locate the responsible parties. The police did write down license plate numbers of the pumpkin drop vehicles, but nobody was sure what vehicle my pumpkin was dropped from. Oh well, I feel better today, and have removed the seeds from my other pumpkin and returned it to the compost pile. I'll post a message on the seed board for any takers on my 733 seeds and also the 776.5 seeds that took a long slide down a steep hill. Best wishes to everyone in preparing for "08"

11/6/2007 8:22:06 PM

Delaware, Ohio

Tony,
I am so sorry to read this post. I hope you retrieved enough seeds to grow for yourself and to share. I live in a college town, obviously in the city, and wanted so badly to display one of my pumpkins. Only 280 pounds, but a nice pumpkin. The little kids and older neighbors would have loved it but, I just knew some "kid" would do something to hurt it, so I didn't do it. It's sitting in the garage, perfectly intact. Maybe this is a "wake up call", if we want to put them out for all to see, cut a hole in the top, bottom or side and get the seeds. Then put it out for the neighbors and friends. Oh and by the by....I had 7 jack o'lanterns sitting out in the yard, no one touched them. No smashing, no squishing, no throwing in the street. I have a ton of buzzed college students walking by my house every single day. I was surprised and delighted. But that was this year............
Chriss

11/7/2007 1:25:43 AM

Midwest

Tony: I am sorry that happened to you too. Now, there are three giant holes in my pumpkin. I know who the offenders are. In fact I caught one of them on top of my pumpkin last Sunday. Stupid squirrel, I wish I had a gun. I chased him right to his house and threw a stick but missed. I know where he lives and, believe me, I'll get'em.

11/7/2007 1:27:56 PM