The Great Pumpkin Toss

The third annual Great Pumpkin Toss returns to Nanaimo on Saturday, November 4, 2023 to the area behind the East Wellington Fire Hall at Meadow Creek Community Park. Community members are invited to bring their Halloween pumpkins and for a donation, have them catapulted through the air by cannons built by Alair Homes, Rogers Trucking & Landscaping and VMAC. All proceeds from the event are going to the Nanaimo Child Development Centre.

The Great Pumpkin Toss started as a friendly competition between a few local companies and as a way to get rid of some Halloween jack-o-lanterns. Alair’s (Pumpkin Slay-alair) and VMAC’s (Gourdon Blamsay) cannons are both air-compressor-driven, built to the latest standards and specifications. Their specific pressures and firing capacities are closely guarded secrets. Both are completely safe, unless you’re a pumpkin.

Pumpkins are expected to travel between 350 and 400 feet, landing at a farm on the far side of the park. The smashed squashes will then serve as a fabulous feast for the farm animals on site.

Participants can bring their carved pumpkins from home and choose whether they’d like them fired via the heavy artillery or smashed. The cannons do require smaller pumpkins which will be available on site. Pumpkin smashing is a one-size-fits-all event.

In addition to all the flying pumpkin goo, attendees are invited to try pumpkin bowling, enjoy some tasty treats at the concession, and for a donation, work off that post-Halloween sugar high in the bouncy castle.