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Presents...
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3 Check It Out! 4 Gigantic Pumpkin Boats 6 The Weird Plant 10 Raising a Big Stink 11 Sock Some Seeds 12 10 Weird and Wacky Facts 14 Puzzles 16 From Fuzz to Frass 18 Weird and Wacky Teeth 19 Weird and Wacky Funnies 20 Cookie Cows 21 The Phantom Lizard 22 Kids Corner 24 Wacky Rabbit Habits 25 Draw a Rabbit 26 Buried After 121 Years 29 Max & Gracie 30 Puzzle Solutions
New Contest!
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e’ve all seen some pretty strange things. What have you looked at that is weird and wacky? With Halloween coming, we think of carving pumpkins. Imagine making a boat out of a pumpkin, one big enough to ride in! Check out the first story. Maybe you have a Halloween costume that is weird. Send us a picture. There are all kinds of odd stories in this issue, some that you may find hard to believe. Don’t be afraid. Some are true and others are just for entertainment.
Go searching for something odd outside in nature. Or look in your room, under the bed, or in the back of your closet. Read everything in this issue. It may give you some ideas! And check out the photos on this page. Can you identify each one? (If not, the answers are on page 30.) Then send us your own drawing, poem, short story, or photograph of what you consider really weird. We will send you something just for entering and publish the winners in a future issue. Happy Hunting! Email your answers to: contest@funforkidz.com Or mail your answers to: Contest, Fun For Kidz, PO Box 227, Bluffton, OH 45817-0227.
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by Sue Gagliardi What kind of boat could double as a dish on your Thanksgiving table? A giant pumpkin boat! Each autumn, people in the small town of Damariscotta, Maine, host the Damariscotta Pumpkinfest & Regatta™. Here, you’ll find everything “pumpkin” in a grand celebration of this member of the gourd family! The festival takes pumpkins to a whole new level of fun and creativity. Events include giant pumpkin decorating, a pumpkin race car derby, gigantic pumpkin boat racing, and even underwater pumpkin carving! Since 2007, Maine residents and visitors from all over have been treated to this amazing spectacle of pumpkin finery. The October festival, which lasts for 10 days, is a celebration of agriculture, education, and creativity. Growing giant pumpkins begins each spring on Seedling Sunday. That’s when elementary school students and townspeople volunteer to plant over 600 Atlantic Giant pumpkin plants. The goal is to grow at least 500 pumpkins weighing 100 pounds each. That’s 50,000 pounds of pumpkins! (Imagine trying to fit THAT into your wagon!) The pumpkin-grower volunteers learn how to care for their soon-to-be gigantic pumpkins by attending horticultural workshops. They chat with expert growers. Volunteers can participate in the Pumpkin Pledge Program, in which they collect pledge money per pumpkin or per pound of pumpkin grown. The money helps support local charities and helps fund the pumpkin festival events.
It all starts with giant pumpkins!
Giant pumpkins need a large sunny area with 400-600 square feet of growing space per plant. Pumpkin vines are trained to give the pumpkins room to grow – and grow and grow! Part of growing healthy pumpkins is regular feeding with liquid fish and seaweed plant food.
Racing in the Pumpkinboat Regatta
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Once the pumpkin fruit begins to grow, it’s covered with sheets for protection from too much sun. In cooler weather, pumpkins are covered with blankets to help retain heat. When it’s harvest time, growers keep part of the vine attached to the stem to help the pumpkins last longer. Once the giant pumpkins are harvested, the real fun begins!
A giant peacock pumpkin boat
The town of Damariscotta hosts a Weigh-off each fall to find which pumpkins weigh the most and which proud pumpkin parents get to take home the prize money. About 70 of these giants are carved, painted, and decorated in a big way to be displayed during the festival. The giant pumpkins arrive on trucks. They can range from 200-1200 pounds and stand 4 feet tall! When the festival is over, these pumpkins are recycled as pig feed for some lucky pigs at local farms. Participants with small pumpkins weighing 14-18 pounds (like the ones you’re likely to find at your local pumpkin farm or market) can design their own pumpkin car racers to compete in a Pumpkin Derby. Competitors can hollow out the pumpkin to make it lighter. They can add wheels, axles, and decorations to create a pumpkin racer weighing 20 pounds or less. Pumpkin racers compete for prizes as they race down the track to take home the checkered flag. Other prizes are awarded for funniest, scariest, and most creative pumpkin racers. The highlight of the festival is the Pumpkinfest Regatta. Known as the “extreme sport of gardening,” pumpkin boat racing is quite a unique way to explore the water! Participants can go to pumpkin-boat-building workshops and learn how to make a pumpkin boat. The pumpkins, weighing over 500 pounds each, are hollowed out, decorated, and equipped for a splashy ride down the Damariscotta River. Paddleboat racers propel their boats using regular boating oars. Powerboat racers are equipped with real outboard motors to help them glide along the water. In addition to speed races, participants can join in relay races and competitions. In Pumpkin Boat Polo, they use nets to retrieve balls to place in special rings. As you’re thinking of what to do with your pumpkins this autumn, remember to think “outside the pumpkin” – and inside too! You just may end up seeing your pumpkin in a whole new way. Go to the Fun For Kidz Facebook page to see a video of these giant racing pumpkins in action!
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