The jack-o’-lanterns and pumpkins arrived to the New Lenox commons Saturday, days after trick-or-treat.
In front of Village Hall, Keke’s Donuts fried in the background and children laughed while adults carried in pumpkins and cups of steaming coffee. The weather, clear and crisp, was perfect for a family outing — and a good day for pumpkins to die.
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New Lenox hosted its first ever pumpkin smash, a tradition gaining popularity in the area when families drop off pumpkins and jack-o’-lanterns and smash them to pieces with sledgehammers and mallets or, if so inclined, toss them into a wood chipper.
Years ago, rotted, wilted pumpkins found themselves, if not in the trash, then smashed along roadways, the victims of vandalism. No more. These days the pumpkin puree is saved a trip to the landfill or some other indignity and used instead as fertilizer for nearby farms, and children are given an opportunity for one last Halloween hurrah.
“It’s fun,” reported Owen Grund, one of the children who demolished a few pumpkins. “It’s more fun smashing them. I’d rather just smash a solid one.”
His victims were jack-o’-lanterns, the carved version of the gourds.
Still, Grund wasn’t alone in his feelings.
Keegan Norberg, another boy, said he enjoyed smashing them.
“I’ve never done that,” he said.
Norberg said he’s a big fan of Halloween, but the smash is already a highlight.
The boys were far from outliers, judging from the steady stream of families carting pumpkins and even a few folks out for a morning stroll stopping to watch.
The village accepted solid, painted pumpkins as well as the carved variety, seemingly fresh pumpkins as well as gourds toppled by age and mottled by mold. The only forbidden donations were pumpkins with candles, plastics or nonbiodegradable decorations.
The event kicked off at 9 a.m. and by 10 a.m., dozens of pumpkin innards filled an industrial metal trash bin while orange ribbons piled deep in the wood chipper. The village weighed each offering at the outset at by midmorning the fattest had clocked in at 41 pounds.
Beth Alderson, a village employee who organized Saturday’s smash, said pumpkin remains would be given to a farm in Monee.
“It’s a pretty popular thing to do across the state,” Alderson said. “I saw somebody else doing it and got the ideas.”
She said while this was the first year for New Lenox, she hopes and expects it will become a late fall tradition.
“I hope so. It seems like we’ve got a decent turnout,” Alderson said.
Though this year’s kickoff featured just a handful of smashing tarps, the wood chipper and the doughnut booth, Alderson said she got the popularity.
“It’s cathartic for the parents,” she said.
Most of the kids who attended were toddlers to middle-schoolers, but nobody walked away disappointed.
“It was a great time,” said Nikki Herkabus.
Her son, Henry, was too small to wield a sledgehammer so they availed themselves of the wood chipper. Herkabus said events like the smash are why she loves her town.
“New Lenox always picks great events,” she said. “There’s always something for the parents and for the kids.”
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Jesse Wright is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.