Go to any campus that experiences fall weather and it’s easy to find pumpkin spice lattes and crisp fall leaves. But only at the University of Wisconsin will students find giant pumpkins bred specifically for racing on water.
The annual Pumpkin Regatta, held Oct. 10 on Lake Mendota, was all thanks to one UW plant geneticist and professor: Jim Nienhuis.
The Department of Horticulture and UW’s Hoofer Sailing Club have jointly hosted the Pumpkin Regatta every fall for the past decade. Hundreds of people show up to the shores of Lake Mendota both to race and cheer on competitors as they paddle along in enormous, hollowed out pumpkins specifically bred for this event.
Like some of the world’s greatest innovations, the Pumpkin Regatta began as an accident.
Known commonly as,“The Vegetable Guy,” Nienhuis and a colleague of his were jointly teaching Horticulture 370: World Vegetables 10 years ago. The end of October was the course’s unit on pumpkins, and Nienhuis had been growing an array of both pumpkins and squash for class demonstrations.
But some of these pumpkins were too large and cumbersome to transport to class, so Nienhuis decided to dump them into Lake Mendota in front of the UW Hoofer building, and thus the Pumpkin Regatta was born.
But the Regatta’s beginnings were not all smooth sailing. Nienhuis recalls the Pumpkin Regatta’s first event as “The Incident.”
“We were out on the pier with these hundreds of people and we were cheering on our pumpkin racers, and the pier collapsed and everyone got dumped into Lake Mendota,” Neihuis said. “That was kind of a shocker.”
Shortly after, Nienhuis received a call from risk management, warning Nienhuis to take further precautions with future pumpkin-related festivities. Nienhuis decided to place the pumpkins on top of old tractor tire inner tubes to add stability to the pumpkin boats.
Since then, interest in the Pumpkin Regatta has rapidly grown. Because Nienhuis grows the pumpkins himself, there’s no cost to the public, so anyone can come and join in on the festivities. Nienhuis describes the event as “a hoot.”
“If you win the pumpkin race, your prize is that I hug you. That’s pretty much it,” Nienhuis said. “It’s odd, eclectic and spirited, and people get wet and get pumpkin goop all over them. And everyone’s smiling…except for the people who get dumped in the lake. Well no, even they smile.”
When asked if he had anything special in store for the Regatta this year, Nienhuis brought up the genetic design of the pumpkins. The pumpkins in the past have always been huge and irregularly shaped.
Nienhuis is certain he’s found the solution: cross breeding gourds to create a more hydrophilic pumpkinesque watercraft.
By taking the Atlantic Giant Pumpkin’s large size and crossing it with the Pink Banana Squash’s elongated, sleek frame, Nienhuis said he is confident he has created the ultimate racing canoe with his new breed of gourd: The Sleek Sailing Squash.
This year, 350 people signed up through Hoofer’s to take part in the Pumpkin Regatta action to race, drink beer and delight in Wisconsin’s fleeting fall weather. The turnout is all thanks to one man and his love for plants, and — most certainly — giant pumpkins.
