Cinderella's Coach

    

      Who can forget the Disney movie "Cinderella"  when the Fairy Godmother turns an ordinary pumpkin into a carriage with mice becoming coachmen?  The pumpkin has played a part in history for thousands of years and is still an integral element in Halloween celebrations throughout the United States.

     It was the Greeks who first named the fruit pepon meaning "large melon."  And the French then nasalized it into pompon and the proper British called it pompion.  By the time the word crossed the Atlantic Ocean it was pumpkin to the Colonists.  The North American species is a member of the cucurbitaceae family, a squash like the zucchini and watermelon.  They range in size from under a pound to over a thousand pounds and are easily recognized by their orange color, but can also be green, white, red and gray.

    
     Here are some interesting pumpkin facts:

80% of all the pumpkins produced in the U.S. are available in October.
Pumpkin production in the US exceeds 1.5 billion pounds annually.
Pumpkins are a major cash crop in IL, PA, OH, IN, & CA
90% of a pumpkin is water
Pumpkins are loaded with beta-carotene which becomes Vitamin A
1 cup of cooked pumpkin contains only 49 calories
Morton, IL is the self proclaimed pumpkin capital of the world
The modern Jack-O-Lantern is based on an old Irish legend

 





     Many communities hold annual pumpkin festivals and one of the most notable is in Moab, UT.  The Pumpkin Chuckin Festival will be held this year on October 27 and will feature a variety of methods of lift off including slingshots, catapults, trebuchets and air cannons.  Be sure to stand behind them to watch the festivities!