Moab’s Youth Garden Project, a nonprofit organization that serves the city’s children, is kicking off their Ninth Annual Pumpkin Chuckin Festival on the Oct. 25.
Kristin Thomas, the program manager for the project, said there are various categories for competitors to enter. One contestant from Lindon has people especially excited.
“The slingshot from Lindon, UT is going to be 10,000 pounds," Thomas said. "It’s a big machine. Supposedly they can shoot it up to 500 feet, potentially farther."
The team Thomas is referring to calls themselves the Smashing Heads but in actuality they are the employees of Universal Industrial Sales, Inc.
According to Leighton Jensen, a UIS employee, the owner Martin Snow thought it would be fun to participate. Unfortunately, they’ve run into some problems with the requirements and might not be able to make it.
Due to the massive weight of UIS’s catapult, festival’s officials are concerned about potential damage to the property where the event is being held.
“I think they were just nervous about the whole thing so they denied us," Jensen said. "And now we’re trying to find a way to hurry and go put this thing on its own axel so we can just tow it behind a big truck and drop it on the grass on its own free wheel and go.”
Jensen said that they’re 80 percent certain they’ll make the event Saturday.
