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  • Molly Meska of Evans helps her 16-month-old Robear Duffy smash a pumpkin for Pumpkin Destruction at Tigges Farm. Pumpkins, which are about 90 percent water, belong to the squash family.

    Molly Meska of Evans helps her 16-month-old Robear Duffy smash a pumpkin for Pumpkin Destruction at Tigges Farm. Pumpkins, which are about 90 percent water, belong to the squash family.

  • Ryann Jo Nally, 7 of Windsor, pitches a pumpkin Saturday afternoon at Tigges Farm, 12404 Weld County Road 64 1/2 in Greeley. Ryann and her family had a smashing time destroying pumpkins at Clearview Library District's first Pumpkin Destruction.

    Ryann Jo Nally, 7 of Windsor, pitches a pumpkin Saturday afternoon at Tigges Farm, 12404 Weld County Road 64 1/2 in Greeley. Ryann and her family had a smashing time destroying pumpkins at Clearview Library District's first Pumpkin Destruction.

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Greeley Tribune, Greeley local news.
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Ryann Jo Nally lifted a small pumpkin as high as she could before slamming it onto the ground in front of her.

“You gotta do the squishy ones,” the 7-year-old said.

Ryann wasn’t a Halloween prankster late to the game. The Clearview Library District organized Pumpkin Destruction on Saturday afternoon at Tigges Farm, 12404 Weld County Road 641/2 in Greeley.

Andrea Cleland, an early literacy librarian with the district, said she attended a conference where she learned about how children aren’t getting outside as much as they should. Staying inside, she said, is causing a lot of sensory disorders where children are afraid to touch dirt, straw or even pumpkins.

“In order to combat that, we decided to hold a Pumpkin Destruction day,” Cleland said.

Letty Holmbo of Windsor and her children went around the patches pounding pumpkins into pulp for the event. Holmbo said she and her family are very active members of the library. She said she was a little surprised when she saw Pumpkin Destruction – at least at first.

“But then not so much because they tend to be an out-of-the-box library. They are always doing fresh ideas,” she said.

Holmbo’s 12-year-old son Ashton said the event was basically a dream come true. He said the best pumpkins to smash had a good balance of solid and mushy.

By the end of the hour-long event, more than a few little ones were covered with pumpkin guts. Cleland called everyone to the southwest corner of the parking lot. It was time for the pumpkin plummet.

Bart Martinez, who started working at Tigges Farm before he was 10, brought his forklift for the event. After he and others gathered some pumpkins throughout the event, they piled them onto a small platform on the lift.

Martinez begin tilting the platform forward. Families cheered as the pumpkins came crashing down.