Leader’s historic pumpkin launch!
By Joan Janzen
joanjanzen@yahoo.com
There is something new being launched in Leader, Sask., thanks to the endeavours of local resident, Gordon Stueck. On Sunday, October 17th, Gordon was out launching pumpkins sixty feet in the air and a distance of 150 feet into a field, using his newly constructed trebuchet.
What is a trebuchet, you ask? It’s a type of catapult that uses a long arm to throw a projectile; in this case the projectiles are pumpkins. The design allows it to launch pumpkins of greater weights further distances than that of a traditional catapult.
“Every year I try to build something,” the retired pharmacist explained. “I worked hard all my life. It’s hard to quit working and I don’t have any hobbies so I have to do something.”
One of his previous projects was a big red chair, which provides many photo ops for people who are passing by. “This year I kind of got carried away, but I got so far and I couldn’t quit. I just saw a picture of a trebuchet and I thought ‘I can do that’.”
Over a period of six weeks, Gordon did do it, and the completed project is sitting behind his residence. “I’m hoping to move it beside the big chair by the tourist booth area. It’s really heavy, and will be chained down and locked for safety with a sign stipulating no authorized use. But that will be next spring,” he said.
Historically, Gordon said the Chinese used trebuchets that were 50 or 60 feet long. “They had very skilled people to build them,” he noted. Gordon let his imagination run wild and crafted his own fictitious historical account of the origins of the trebuchet. It’s an interesting read, but not quite as interesting as the actual demonstration of Gordon’s trebuchet.
On Sunday, Gordon and a few enthusiastic observers captured the historic launch on video. “We had a lot of fun with it! I’m not sure who was more surprised at the results, my doubting friends or me,” Gordon said. They launched a half dozen pumpkins and Gordon was happy to report “it worked better than I thought!”.
“I was so tickled when that thing worked, after all the work I put into it,” he said. “You have to be careful loading it and you want to be sure to have three or four people around when you’re using it. I put some extra bracing on it, and it’s safe as long as we don’t try launching anything too heavy. You have to adjust the weight so your pumpkin goes further instead of higher.” According to Gordon, the smashed pumpkins serve as tasty treats for the deer.
He’s hoping for moderate temperatures on Halloween day so he can launch more pumpkins in the afternoon. “Needless to say, Halloween should be fun this year, provided the trebuchet doesn’t destroy itself,” Gordon said. “If things work out, we’ll make it an annual event.”
