Sunday, January 4, 2009

Susan Smith: Gentlemen, Start Your Pumpkins!


Originally published Sept. 30, 2008


By Susan Lampert Smith


It's that time of year when giant pumpkins race across Lake Mendota, all for the glory of winning the Cucurbita Regatta, an invention of UW-Madison horticulture professors Irwin Goldman and Jim Nienhuis.


The first event, held in 2005, was such a smashing success that a pier behind Memorial Union fell apart under the weight of the spectators. dropping them into the drink.


Most years, it's only the horticulture students, racing inside hollowed out Atlantic Giant pumpkins, who stay a chance of an icy dunk.


The pumpkins float atop tractor tire inner tubes. This year the race starts at noon Saturday Oct. 4, behind Memorial Union.

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