As the first pumpkin hit the ground with a loud splat, the air filled with a warm, slightly sweet smell. The crowd erupted into cheers. Bits of pumpkin flew all over, children cheerfully showed their parents pieces that had landed near them.
The annual “Jack Splat” event, run by the Iowa Children’s Museum, offers attendees a clean, sustainable way to get rid of their jack-o’-lanterns once the Halloween season is over.
Attendees choose to donate their pumpkins to be tossed from the Chauncey Swan Parking Ramp for the amusement of a roaring crowd. The shattered pumpkins will then be packed into bins and composted by the city.
Amber Morris, the museum’s early learning manager and Jackie McCall, director of development, organized the event. Morris said the event started about 10 years ago at the Iowa Children’s Museum, where pumpkins were thrown from the museum’s second floor.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, they relocated the event outside and have officially been hosting it at the Chauncey Swan Park for five years.
Having the event take place inside also posed some other challenges. Gretchen Kemple-Taylor, the director of museum operations at the Iowa City Museums, recognized the event’s past struggles.
“We used to hold it in the museum. We’ve done it there for years and years, but it got pretty smelly to do it inside. Smelly and messy. It was getting pretty gross. Moving it outside has been great,” Kemple-Taylor said.
Each round of pumpkin throwing had a theme, or a “splat-a-gory.” The final round was the most enthusiastic one of the day as it was themed after the hit 2025 movie “K-Pop Demon Hunters.” Children and parents cheered and yelled “Take down!” as pumpkins smashed two cardboard blue and green demons.
First-time attendee Gabriela Kaus came with her husband, her three-year-old son, and her one-year-old daughter. She attends the Iowa City Farmers Market with her family each Saturday, and after the event concluded the previous week, she said she felt this was the next step.
“I think it’s fun for the three-year-old to see them fall,” Kaus said. “He just likes being outside, so it’s a way to get outside when it’s a little cooler.”
While the parents stood back and conversed among themselves, children clustered behind a barrier near the splat zone, an orange tarp covered with plastic that by the end of the event was completely covered with pumpkin gunk. For McCall, her favorite part of the event was watching the children’s reactions.
“I love to be just on [the] side of the splat zone and get to watch these kids’ faces as the pumpkins come down because it is pretty exciting, and seeing the joy and laughter is a wonderful feeling,” McCall said.
Pumpkins of all shapes, sizes, and colors rained down on the tarp. With each pumpkin that hit the ground, a loud, satisfying crack erupted from the impact, followed by pieces of pumpkin flying through the air and the sound of children squealing excitedly for the spectacle. Many children cheered when the larger pumpkins broke apart with a loud crack and the spraying of pumpkin shards.
Morris preferred the softer pumpkins, as their texture made for a satisfying result when they hit the tarp. She hopes next year’s event will have more soft pumpkins.
“They were super solid this time around,” Morris said. “When it’s almost falling apart when it comes down, that’s my preferred splat.”
By the end of the event, Morris confirmed they had received over 100 pumpkins to be tossed and composted, whereas in previous years, the numbers had been over 200.
