A Day of Flying Pumpkins and Flying Fun

What do you get when you combine medieval siege engines, autumn gourds, and a beautiful lakeside setting? The 2025 Lewisville Punkin Chunkin, that’s what! This year’s event marked a special milestone – our 7th DFW Trebuchet event and the 2nd annual Punkin Chunkin partnership with the City of Lewisville. And what a day it was!

A Partnership That Works

Working with the City of Lewisville, and especially Miranda Maloy, has been nothing short of amazing. She’s been a fantastic partner who has helped open doors that were previously unavailable or required way too much time and effort when we ran these events independently. Having the city’s support has taken our events to a whole new level, and we’re incredibly grateful for their continued partnership.

The Competitors

This year we had five teams bringing nine trebuchets to the field, each with their own unique design and personality:

Knights Who Say Yeet (that’s me!) brought Sir Yeets-a-Lot, a walking arm trebuchet. Small but mighty, this compact design proved that you don’t need to be the biggest to make an impact.

The Big Trebowski, led by Matt Weyandt and Shawn Porter, featured “The Dude Abides”, a whipper that definitely abided by the laws of physics in spectacular fashion.

Texas Trebuchet, organized by Robert Townsend and Steven Larson, brought not one, not two, but THREE whippers of varying sizes. I affectionately dubbed them Papa Bear, Momma Bear, and Baby Bear based on their dimensions. (Robert also runs the fantastic Texas Trebuchet Facebook group if you’re interested in joining the community!)

The Flugelhorns, the Weis family creation, showcased “Chunk Mangione”, a hinged counterweight trebuchet with a name that’s pure gold.

Wile E’s Pumpkin Express, JJ Bleu’s new team with her brother, featured a MURLIN (Multi-Radius Linear Nodes) design using an anvil as counterweight. Talk about creative engineering!

Going the Distance

The highlight of any Punkin Chunkin is watching those pumpkins soar, and this year didn’t disappoint. Texas Trebuchet claimed the distance crown with an incredible 905-foot throw. Even from the spectator area, you could hear the distinctive crack of the whip as the pumpkin sliced through the air, a sound that gets the crowd on their feet every time.

Measuring those distances presented a unique challenge. Since we were launching into Lake Lewisville and couldn’t secure a drone operator, we improvised with Dr. Robert Brady of Brady Chiropractic paddling out in a kayak to mark where pumpkins landed. Was it the safest approach? Probably not. Did it work? Absolutely! Most shots cleared the green and splashed into the lake, much to the delight of spectators (and probably the fish, who enjoyed a post-event pumpkin feast).

And sometimes shots went backwards! Thankfully, we made sure no one was in the “Cone of Danger” during fires.

Not all trebuchets were able to make it to their final throw. One of Texas Trebuchet’s had their ballistic fall out of the sling which caused it to dry-fire (which should be avoided). As a result, the counterweight box sheered off during launch!

After the competition was over, we had some leftover pumpkins which we were able to take some aggression out on, Office Space style.

Gratitude All Around

Events like this don’t happen without an amazing team of helpers and volunteers. I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who pitched in to make this day successful. We had zero injuries (well, except for my pulled hamstring, but that’s on me), and the weather gods smiled upon us as the rain held off perfectly, waiting until 10 minutes after the last team packed up to unleash.

Special thanks to:

The City of Lewisville and Miranda Maloy – for hosting and supporting us
My wife Kathy – who served as MC and kept the event flowing smoothly
Troy and Adam – our stellar pit crew
Shane and Dr. Brady – the “Going the Distance” team who measured every throw
Neil, Tim, Zeke, and Kate – who cheerfully handled all the random tasks I threw their way
Shea Johns – for creating the awesome awards!

And of course, huge appreciation to our competing teams who were the real stars of the show:

Texas Trebuchet – Robert Townsend and Travis Flipse
Wile E’s Pumpkin Express – JJ Bleu and brother
The Flugelhorns – The Weis family
The Big Trebowski – Matt Weyandt and Shawn Porter

Until Next Year

As I watched pumpkin carcasses bob in Lake Lewisville and listened to the excited chatter of spectators heading home, I couldn’t help but feel proud of what we’ve built together. Seven events deep, and the DFW Trebuchet community keeps growing stronger. Here’s to more flying pumpkins, creative engineering, and the pure joy of launching things really, really far.

See you next year, Lewisville!

Sir Yeets-a-Lot has left the field.