This article is over 5 years old and may contain outdated information.

People & Culture

Video of the Week: Watch a 600-kilogram pumpkin destroy a car

First-ever "Operation Pumpkin Drop" held in Saskatoon was a messy success 
  • Oct 20, 2017
  • 256 words
  • 2 minutes
Operation pumpkin drop Expand Image
Advertisement

Ever since Newton defined the law of gravity, humankind has been coming up with new and bizarre ways to test it, and while the group behind Saskatoon’s first-ever Operation Pumpkin Drop surely isn’t the first to think of dropping a weighty gourd from a great height, they did pull it off with an extremely satsifying twist. 

The event was held last weekend by the Saskatoon chapter of the Honourable Order of the Blue Goose International, an insurance industry fraternity, to raise funds for a local pediatric cancer program. While spectators watched from a safe distance, three large pumpkins were dropped from a 40-metre crane in the middle of a field. One of the pumpkins was filled with candy and triggered a stampede of children:

But the most highly-anticipated moment of the event was the dropping of a 600-kilogram pumpkin onto an unclaimed Nissan Maxima donated by Saskatchewan Government Insurance. Local CTV anchor Fiona Odlum captured the drop in breathtaking slow-motion:

All told, the event raised about $9,000 for the charity. 

Related: Watch as Thompson, Manitoba wolf-howls into the record books 

Advertisement

Are you passionate about Canadian geography?

You can support Canadian Geographic in 3 ways:

Related Content

Two caribou silhouetted against a dark, rainy landscape

Wildlife

Caribou are vanishing at an alarming rate. Is it too late to save them?

After more than a million years on Earth, the caribou is under threat of global extinction. The precipitous decline of the once mighty herds is a tragedy that is hard to watch — and even harder to reverse.

  • 4559 words
  • 19 minutes

Wildlife

The (re)naming of caribou

The failure to recognize distinct species and subspecies of caribou is hampering efforts to conserve them. So, I revised their taxonomy.

  • 1540 words
  • 7 minutes
a silhouetted carbon capture industrial plant against a white mountain background as the sun rises, casting a warm glow over the landscape

Environment

The truth about carbon capture

Carbon capture is big business, but its challenges fly in the face of the need to lower emissions. Can we square the circle on this technological Wild West?

  • 5042 words
  • 21 minutes

People & Culture

Kahkiihtwaam ee-pee-kiiweehtataahk: Bringing it back home again

The story of how a critically endangered Indigenous language can be saved

  • 6310 words
  • 26 minutes