Pumpkin smashing event lets students release rage on pumpkins

Concordia students smash pumpkins on a tarp behind the Janzow Campus Center.

Photo credit: Evelyn Rouland

By Evelyn Rouland

The week after Halloween ended with a bang as a pumpkin-smashing event helped students relieve stress and get rid of extra fall décor. The event hosted by resident assistants brought around 30 students to the Hammock Park near Jonathan Hall on Saturday night.

Several resident assistants collected a large number of pumpkins from their halls and encouraged students to bring their own to smash with provided baseball bats. The RAs also set up a table of fall-themed snacks like hot chocolate and croissants.

While some students brought pumpkins from their halls that they needed to get rid of, others simply used the ones provided. Students cycled in throughout the two-hour timeframe to relieve stress by throwing and smashing pumpkins of all shapes and sizes, even starting to pitch smaller pumpkins and attempting to hit them out of the air with baseball bats.

Freshman Eliana Fluegge said that she enjoyed the event and the provided snacks.

“It felt really good releasing my rage on that pumpkin I smashed,” she said. “I felt accomplished with myself.”

Fluegge also said that despite it being very cold, the hot chocolate made it all worth it.

Landri Loos and Julia Hitz, both juniors, were some of the event organizers who came up with the idea.

“Last year, Julia and I did pumpkin painting,” Loos said. “This year we thought, ‘Well, people need to get rid of their pumpkins, we should do, like, a rage room.’”