After all the fun of Halloween, there’s no better way to mark the end of spooky season than by destroying your jack-o-lantern.
And that’s just what Forest Parkers did Saturday at the annual pumpkin smash on the field south of the Altenheim, where they gathered to pummel their pumpkins from Halloween with a 15-foot-long hammer.
For the third year in a row, the village’s recreation board organized the pumpkin smash to compost gourds that were used as decorations through the prior weekend after candles were removed. But before the pumpkins are composted, participants smashed them by pulling a string that releases a 50-pound hammer head on top of their pumpkin. An air horn on top of the trebuchet-like structure warns when the hammer’s about to drop.
The pumpkin supply at the pumpkins smashing event Nov. 8, 2025 | Todd Bannor 
Amy Binns-Calvey readies a pumpkin for demolition | Todd Bannor 
A youngster releases the pumpkin smasher with a little help | Todd Bannor 
Geoff Binns-Calvey and his pumpkin smasher | Todd Bannor 
Geoff Binns-Calvey and his pumpkin smasher | Todd Bannor 
A pumpkin meets its end at the pumpkin smashing event | Todd Bannor 
A pumpkin meets its end at the pumpkin smashing event | Todd Bannor 
A pumpkin meets its end at the Forest Park pumpkin smashing event | Todd Bannor
The smashed pumpkins are collected by Republic Services and composted at Thelen Materials in Antioch. Composting the pumpkins gives nutrients to the soil and keeps waste out of landfills, reducing methane gas.
“We want the community to know that composting pumpkins is better for the environment. It’s important to keep pumpkins out of landfills and out of the Forest Preserve,” said Amy Binns-Calvey, chair of the village’s recreation board and whose husband, Geoff, created the giant pumpkin smasher. She added that there’s a fine for discarding pumpkins in the Forest Preserve because it endangers wildlife.
In 2023, the first year of the pumpkin smash, the recreation board collected over 1.6 tons of pumpkins after they were crushed to smithereens. Last year, that number was 1.13 tons.
Besides the pumpkin smash, participants at the event on Saturday tried their hand at pumpkin bowling, where the pins were inflatable candy corn pieces, and enjoyed refreshments from local businesses. This year, the Garden Club, West Cook Wild Ones and the Environmental Control Commission had tables at the pumpkin smash.
Also this year, Forest Park was included on SCARCE.org as a member of the pumpkin composting community.
“We love building community through events like the pumpkin smash,” Binns-Calvey said. “It’s so much fun to see young and old folks cheer the smasher as it does its job.”