The City of Edina hosted its annual Pumpkin Smash & Bash in collaboration with a local garbage service and the fire department at Countryside Park on Saturday.

Families were welcome to attend with or without pumpkins and roll pumpkins down a hill, watch pumpkins be dropped from the Edina Fire Department’s rescue ladder, or throw their pumpkins into a Vierkant Disposal garbage truck.

“I love that it’s a way for people to get rid of their pumpkins because otherwise, what are you going to do with them if you don’t live in an area where you don’t have a way to compost? They’re just going to rot in your yard,” Lauren Buck-Hopkins of Oakdale said.

Pumpkins tossed into the trash wear down garbage trucks and age landfills faster due to their weight and moisture. Organics Recycling Coordinator Twila Singh said the cost of buying a pumpkin triples when sent to a landfill because more tax dollars are needed to maintain it.

“The connection is being made between pumpkins not being trash but being organics [in the community],” Singh said. “And I think every person that comes out here and puts their hands on the pumpkins finally makes that connection.”

Edina Fire Captain Matt Willems said his favorite part about the event was to “hear the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ from the community.” He said he also appreciates the collaboration between different organizations and city departments.

The leftover pumpkin pieces were cleaned up by players from the Edina Hockey Association.

“It was just a fun experience, just to be able to help out and do new things, because I’ve never done this before,” freshman and Edina Hockey Association volunteer Griffin Bjerke said.

If people don’t have an organics recycling cart at home, Singh said they can ask a neighbor to take their pumpkins or bring them to the SMSC Organics Recycling Facility in Shakopee.

This piece was originally published in Zephyrus’ print edition on Nov. 6, 2025