Pumpkin regetta

Every year at the end of October in a small town in Belgium, 200+ people have an aquatic race in hollowed-out-giant-pumpkins!

It’s been a tradition since 2008 started by a local kayak club who joined forced with a pumpkin growers society. They talked about doing this for years and then one year they made it an official event, that since then draws thousands of spectators from all over the country to see this wacky race.

The set up is simple: during the year the pumpkin society grows enormous pumpkins (with record-breaking pumpkins weighing in at over 1 Ton!) and has a contest at the event for which farmer grows the biggest one.

They also hollow out about 30 huge pumpkins of about the same size, which are then set afloat to create the vessels for the race. Then people compete in an estafette-like race in teams of 4, where they have to each complete a lap around a structure in the pond and try to get the fastest time. They also have prizes for the best dressed teams, so there are a lot of people in fancy dress and whimsical team outfits

The event has all sorts of pumpkin-related events and activities (biggest pumpkin contest, pumpkin throwing, pumpkin curling, pumpkin soup,…)