CHARLESTON W.Va. — Look out below for falling pumpkins.
The 20th annual Capital City Pumpkin Drop hosted by BridgeValley Community and Technical College and AEP took place at Appalachian Power Park in Charleston on Thursday.
More than a thousand elementary, middle and high school aged kids competed to see whose pumpkin could survive a drop from the top of a ladder on an AEP truck..
“It’s just cool to see all the ideas that people have thought up to protect the pumpkin from falling whether they work or don’t work,” Luke McGhee, a John Adams Middle School student said. ” The best idea I’ve seen here is the triangle box. They did not win but it only had a hairline fracture on it.”
38 schools were registered to participate for the annual drop with an estimated 100 pumpkin drops taking place. The Pumpkin Drop is geared towards having students design a container using skills learned in the classroom that will protect the pumpkin during the fall.
The pumpkins were judged by a team of faculty and staff from BridgeValley and American Electric Power based on whether they stay intact and how close they land to the target.
It’s pretty interesting,” Joseph Chapman, a John Adams Middle School student said. “Most of our school’s pumpkins were in regular boxes but we did have one in a triangle type box but I am pretty sure it didn’t survive though.
“My team didn’t win. The box fell sideways mid-flight and the pumpkin didn’t survive but today has been good.”