RIP Punkin Chunkin   

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Good afternoon,

Delaware’s quirkiest event,  announced Tuesday it will move to a former Air Force base in central Illinois.

While packing up and moving Punkin Chunkin to the heartland was a surprise, leaving  Delaware seemed to be a foregone conclusion.

The event struggled with multiple issues that include injuries, liability insurance and a lack of available sites as development continues unabated in the fast-growing county.

One TV producer, clearly too close to the action, was severely injured, a tragedy that contributed to Punkin Chunkin’s cancellation in the past couple of years.

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Government support was lukewarm at best. It was a reflection of the discomfort that comes from an event that evolved from a chance to let off steam in a farm field to an internationally known throwdown of weaponry that is even scarier than pumpkin spice coffee.

And trial lawyers from up north, aided by legislative allies, weren’t willing to cut the event any liability breaks, one of the event’s legislative backers claimed.

The result is the loss of a happening that along with Dogfish Head brewery put Sussex County on the map.

No 2 in the quirky category is Middletown’s  New Year’s Day Hummers Parade, which now seems destined to be subject to regulation in a politically correct era.

It is true that some parade participants weren’t thinking things through. Satirizing hot button issues is a risky enterprise in an era of instant outrage via social media. 

Still,  one has to mourn the end of a more freewheeling era.

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