The Pumpkin Races’ surprising origin
Sadie Harrington, 11, and Catherine Cormack, 11, show their pumpkin Scary Perry. The Pumpkin Races, one of Manhattan Beach’s signature events, began at a birthday party in Hermosa Beach in 1990. Karl Rogers, whose birthday is Oct. 29, invited friends over to his house on Longfellow Avenue for his 28th birthday. Tired of the usual costume party, he cast around for something new. He noticed his skateboard, which he often rode down the hill, sitting next to some pumpkins on the porch. “I tried putting the pumpkin on the skateboard and rolling it down Longfellow Avenue,” he said. “It went really fast, but it was boring.” Then he thought about giving the pumpkin its own wheels. He bought some supplies. When his guests arrived, they decorated the pumpkins. On a whim, he sent out a press release advertising the event. To his surprise, a news van came. “By the end of the night, four or five people had said, ‘Of course, you’re doing it for your birthday again next year, right?’” The following year, about 30 or 40 people came. Rogers’s friend Michael Aaker, who attended the first pumpkin race, came dressed as a referee. That year saw the introduction of the “anti-stealth rule” and the…
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