The pumpkin smash was a success, despite the cold weather, says Uptowne Olds coordinator Dalaura Glubrecht, who helped organize the event.
The inaugural pumpkin smash was held Oct. 13 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the parking lot behind Sim's Furniture.
According to Glubrecht, about 70 people participated. For $10 each, they could buy a pumpkin, climb up on the ladder truck provided by the Olds Fire Department and smash their pumpkin on a tarp on the parking lot.
It was a cold day, though.
According to the Weather Network, the high for the day was 3 C and the low was -3.4.
"Even though it was kind of a not so nice day, we had a huge turnout of people," Glubrecht says. "Everyone had just a blast."
Music by Smashing Pumpkins was played.
"It was fantastic," Glubrecht says.
"Considering the fact that it was crappy out, we were really lucky that we had that many people. So if it was nice out, I couldn't imagine how busy (it would be)."
Some improvements are already planned for next year's version.
"One thing we're going to improve on next year is get an extra set of harnesses so when people go up in the bucket it's not such a long wait time," Glubrecht says.
They only had one set of harnesses at this year's event. The plan is to have a second set so people waiting in line could put them on and be ready to be strapped in the bucket, thus saving some time.
The parking lot also needs to be clear of vehicles. Organizers thought that would be the case when town staff erected barricades the night before the event, but it didn't quite work out that way.
"We had put barricades out the night before. Just one person had moved them and snuck into that parking lot," Glubrecht says. "It was just one vehicle parked right in the middle of the parking lot, so we had to cut the parking lot in half to make everything fit.
"But other than that, everything went well -- better than we could have asked for for a first-time run of things."
The pumpkin smash is one of the Second Saturday events, organized by Uptowne in collaboration with the Olds Institute.
The idea is to hold events in the Uptowne area on the second Saturday of every month to raise money for Halloween Howl, an annual event held each year as close to Halloween as possible.
This year's Howl will be held on Oct. 27. For the second straight year, it will feature a Harry Potter theme.
