DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
Pumpkin paddlers in Kasterlee, Belgium. PICTURE: Video screenshot via Reuters.
• More than 300 pumpkin lovers in northern Belgium on Sunday grabbed the opportunity to paddle the giant hollowed-out fruits over a pond in the town of Kasterlee, marking the height of the pumpkin season with the traditional annual race. The race started in 2008 after local growers decided they needed to find a different use for their 400-plus kilogram pumpkins besides turning them into soup. The local Pumpkin Society and the Kasterlee Kayak Klub collaborate to organise the regatta. They also hold a pumpkin contest, which this year produced the European champion at a weight of 1,160 kilograms. Getting this big is a race in itself for the pumpkins who only start growing in June, so they only have four-to-five months to gain weight. To carve out the boats, however, the experts seek out the lightweights between 300 and 500 kilograms. Still, paddling the unusual kayaks takes some skill. “It’s like a coracle…it’s a canoe but it doesn’t have a front or a back so there’s a lot of muscle you need in order to try and keep it steady and go in the direction you need,” said Mark Smitham, an Englishman living in Brussels. “So yeah I’m a little out of breath, I should do more canoeing. It’s quite exhilarating but with a crowd it’s great fun,” he added, referring to the around 5,000 spectators who had flocked to Kasterlee to watch the 15th edition of the spectacle. After the race, the pumpkins are not eaten but still put to good use. “Some years ago, we were left with a lot of big pumpkins and we wanted to do something for everyone around the Halloween story. That’s how the regatta came about,” said Dries Molans, one of the organisers. “We hollow them out, keep the seed for next year and the pumpkin boats are thrown on the field, where they will serve as fertiliser for next year.” – Reuters
• The Japanese village of Ichinono has come up with an innovative solution to address its population decline (now less than 60) – placing life-sized mannequins to create a sense of community. The dolls have been positioned throughout the community in a variety of poses, including sitting on a swing, pushing a load of firewood in a cart and riding a bike. “If the village is left as it is now, the only thing that awaits us is extinction,” 74-year-old Ichiro Sawayama, head of the village’s governing body to Japan Today. There was some encouraging news in recent years when Kuranosuke Kato, now two-years-old, became the first baby born there in decades.
The 2023 winner, William ShakespEAR, a Townsend’s big-eared bat from Butte Falls. PICTURE: Courtesy of US Bureau of Land Management.
• Hot on the heels of the annual Fat Bear Week comes a beauty contest for bats. The US Bureau of Land Management, which has hosted Bat Beauty Contest since 2019 in conjunction with International Bat Week, invites people to vote for the “cutest” bat on the agency’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. Last year’s winner was William ShakespEAR, a Townsend’s big-eared bat from Butte Falls, who beat Gizmo, an Allen’s Big-Eared Bat, in the final round of the competition. Still in the race in the second round this year’s contest at the time of writing were the likes of Lestat the Western small-footed bat and Robert Battinson the myotis bat. The event ends of Halloween, 31st October. Bat Week is held to raise awareness about bat conservation and the essential role the animals play in the natural world.