The Media Advisory

When's the last time you spoke with someone at the North Pole? Well, I did today. No, no one from there can attend, but they sure are interested in the results!

I'm posting this - but have deleted the whereabouts because we simply cannot accommodate all the people who would want to attend.


STATESVILLE, NC – Who is going to win the election of the president, governor, senator and other heated races? Working with the Statesville PumpkinFest, I have developed a new way to predict the outcome - and to vent some steam after enduring two years of being subjected to countless ads, debates and news stories. We’re going to sling “political” gourds, not mud. Whichever plops the farthest – wins!

On Friday, October 24 at 1 p.m., The Great Heads of Statesville Exit Poll will be held to determine the winners of this years’ election. This event is closed to the public. Only press and candidates are invited.

(Afterwards, at 3 p.m., the Carolina BalloonFest will begin at the Statesville Regional Airport. We welcome you to both events. The BalloonFest will be open to the public. We expect 50 balloons. The afternoon mass ascension will be at 4:30 p.m.)

Here’s the setting - catapults will toss pumpkins with politicians faces painted on them. We will feature selected local, regional, state and national races. We anticipate having around 20 political “heads,” so arriving by 1 p.m. is critical to catch the action.

This is actually an event to promote the 6th Annual PumpkinFest in downtown Statesville on November 1. A pumpkin chunking contest will be held that morning at the same place as the media preview. The festival and contest will be open to the public. The media preview will not.

This same media preview was held in October 2004 and garnered an 80 percent accuracy – one of the highest exit poll surveys in the nation. The story ran on NBC Nightly News, Associated Press picked it up – and it was included in a humorous editorial in the LA Times.

In 2004, the pumpkins representing John Kerry, Dick Cheney and George W. Bush soared high and went a few hundred feet. The head for John Edwards plopped 10 feet away from the trebuchet.

The catapults have been designed and built by students and faculty in the engineering and physics programs at Mitchell Community College in Statesville. They have built a reputation for their creativity and skill, such as building and firing a 50-lb rocket a half-mile into the sky. Dr. Doug Knight is in charge of the project at the college.

Children at the American Renaissance Charter School in Statesville will be painting the pumpkins. This will be their opportunity to learn about government, political campaigns and painting on a spherical shape.
For more information, contact Greta Lint at (office) 336-626-0527 or (cell) 336-963-1102.
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