Members of the Seven Persons 4H Club scoop up smashed pumpkins which will be fed to their goats (Tiffany Goodwein/CHATNewsToday)

By Tiffany Goodwein

Sustainability meets Halloween fun

Great Pumpkin Smash goes to the goats

Oct 30, 2021 | 6:02 PM

MEDICINE HAT,AB- Standing on the Esplanade roof and towering above, pumpkins took a slide, and within seconds became mush. It was all part of the Great Pumpkin Smash, a first-of-its-kind event in the city.

Some 200 pumpkins from local farms plunged from the roof, as spectators watched in awe. The pumpkins were chosen specifically because they would not have made it to a store.

“ The majority of the pumpkins we collected, they were hit by frost. They were not going to go to market, they were going to be plowed under, so we picked them for the smash,” said event organizer Candace Lundrigan.

Once the pumpkins hit the cement. They have a new purpose, one that is perhaps more important than entertainment. The pumpkins go to goats for food.

Members of the Seven Persons Beef Club were on hand to shovel and place the pumpkin mush in a trailer which will be delivered for feeding for the Goat project.

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“The goats really love the pumpkins so we decided to pitch in and help clean up,” said Montana Van Maarion.

By the time the event was done, their trailer was about half full, and the members say the goats will eat every little bit of it from the seeds down to the rinds.

The Great Pumpkin Smash was put together in collaboration with the Esplanade, Medalta, and the Medicine Hat Library.