While Chris Johnson of Geneva enjoyed his recent Halloween experience with his family, he admits there’s always a problem about what to do with the remains of those pumpkins the squirrels didn’t eat.
“This is a great idea. Burns a few calories and allows people to get a little frustration out,” he said at the three-hour pumpkin smash event Saturday at the Community Gardens at Prairie Green in Geneva. “I brought four pumpkins myself. I brought them along with my son and he’s out there smashing them. Kids were told to bring anything they wanted to smash them with – baseball bats, sledgehammers of just smash them on the ground. I’ll make this a regular habit.”
The Geneva Park District, in partnership with The Natural Resources Committee (NRC) of Geneva, offered the event. Organizers said the smash offers a way to break up the pumpkins and return nutrients and water back to the soil, rather than have the pumpkins end up in a landfill.
Jay Womack, chair for the all-volunteer Natural Resources Committee group, said the partnership on the event began last year.
“The Geneva Park District is a co-owner of the Community Gardens and the people that bring the pumpkins literally smash them right into the garden plots,” Womack explained. “The park district comes back a few days later and then rototills everything that was brought into the plots and the organics are easier to decompose. They’ve been very positive about the relationship we started here.”
Laura Sprague, marketing and sponsorship manager for the Geneva Park District, said that one of the district’s core values “is community collaboration.”
“We are very focused on partnering with other organizations that have the same goals as we do and we are always looking to provide new opportunities for community members,” she said. “We have partnered with the NRC on a few initiatives and this just happens to be one of them.”
She said the pumpkin smash is “not only an opportunity to come out and have some fun but it will help these plots be healthy and fertile when we open next season.”
The event last year drew about 100 cars, Womack said.
“We were stunned about the number of people that kept coming in a year ago,” but added that there are still “too many people who put their pumpkins in the garbage can and they go to the landfill.”
More than a dozen cars were lined up as the pumpkin recycling effort opened Saturday under cool and cloudy skies.
Autumn Bruno of Geneva said she brought a number of students along from Geneva Middle School North and South including sixth- and seventh-graders who were representing a student-launched conservation club.
“The kids volunteered to come out today and smash these pumpkins into the soil,” Bruno explained. “The whole idea is we are taking all these good nutrients from these pumpkins and they go into next year’s plants to keep the methane out of the atmosphere.”
Elly Wollen, 13, of Geneva, was one of the middle school students who brought pumpkins to the event Saturday.
“I brought four pumpkins but I didn’t bring anything to break them up with because I didn’t know we could do that,” Elly said. “But to just pick up a pumpkin and let it drop, I mean, that’s kind of fun. Smashing stuff is fun. I actually like gardening and this is a fun project.”
Kelly and Eric Errichiello of St. Charles brought a couple of their pumpkins to the smash event.
“This is a nice option as you have a place to bring them and do some good for the community,” Kelly Errichiello said. “I’m glad they did this.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
