Fourth Annual Giant Pumpkin Regatta set for Oct. 4 at Memorial Union

A flotilla of sailing squash is headed toward Lake Mendota for the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Fourth Annual Giant Pumpkin Regatta. The popular event — in which students paddle hollowed-out pumpkins between the piers at the Memorial Union Terrace — takes place at noon on Oct. 4.

The event is organized by UW–Madison horticulture professors Jim Nienhuis and Irwin Goldman, with help from the Union’s Hoofer Sailing Club. “Pumpkin pilots,” most of whom are students in Goldman’s and Nienhuis’s course on world vegetable crops, sit inside three-foot-wide pumpkins, which are rendered buoyant by tractor-tire innertubes. In addition to life jackets, each pilot will be outfitted with what Nienhuis calls “an attractively carved pumpkin helmet.”

“It’s a fun way of getting students involved,” says Nienhuis, who also cooks and recites poetry for his students. “When students are actively participating, their interest in the subject heightens-whether they’re learning about the biochemistry of carotenoid pathways or genetic diversity in the Cucurbit family.”

For more information, contact Jim Nienhuis, (608) 262-6975, nienhuis@cals.wisc.edu; or Bridget Maniaci, Hoofer Sailing Club, (608) 516-3488, brmaniaci@gmail.com.