“People are bringing in bats and hitting them. They’re jumping up and down, and they’re hand holding them over their heads and dropping them on the ground, and it’s just families, you know, are having fun,” said Harshman.
Pumpkin Smash attended by Naperville residents
Saturday morning, the Naperville Park District partnered with the Young Men’s Service League for the 7th annual Pumpkin Smash event.
“We’re here at the Ron Ory Community Garden plots, and today is the pumpkin smash. It’s an annual event that we have now and occurs every Saturday after Halloween where you can bring your jack lanterns and your pumpkins to be composted right here in the soil at the garden plots,” said Naperville Park District Nature Center and Garden Plot Manager Angelique Harshman.
Pumpkins used for composting garden plots
What may look like pumpkin destruction is beneficial for the environment as the pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns are used for composting, which helps the soil quality in the garden plots.
“When any kind of food waste goes into the landfill, it decomposes, but not naturally. And it’s not using oxygen. So that means it creates methane gas, and when you’re at a landfill and, that’s not good for the environment. But if you’re coming here and you’re dropping off your pumpkins, it’s going to decompose naturally. It has access to oxygen, and pumpkins are also a lot of water. So it’s putting water back into the soil,” said Harshman.
Families could come and drop off their pumpkins or smash them using various equipment.
Last year’s Pumpkin Smash totaled 11,000 pounds worth of pumpkins. The combined weight of the pumpkins this year came up to a total of 19,145 pounds. Nonetheless, it’s an outdoor event that can be entertaining and environmentally friendly.
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