...It’s How You Play The Game

JOHN KOSMER

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JUST A THOUGHT

COOPERSTOWN

I dropped by the PumpkinFest on Saturday, Sept. 27. They had big pumpkins, really big pumpkins. The winner was over 1200 pounds. Little did I know I was witnessing the prologue to being tapped to help in the next day’s event.
Lonetta Swartout, my friend and owner of Cooperstown Stay, called me and asked if we would help out on Sunday. She is a member of the Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce and volunteered to participate in Sunday’s Pumpkin Regatta.
Boy, are we rural. People are defaulting on their mortgages in record numbers, financial institutions are folding all around us, people are yelling "Depression 2" and we’re racing pumpkins.
I didn’t even know they could float. It just goes to show you that life goes on. I also didn’t know that the way you race them was to hollow them out and, you guessed it, that’s where Linda and I came in. We became the pumpkin pit crew … literally.
After hollowing it out, each pumpkin was moved to the boat launch next to Lake Front Park and put in the water. Once in, the racer (in this case Lonetta) was assisted in getting in the boat. She had asked that I take some pictures of her, so I was on the dock next to the launch.
Now this is where it got real interesting. Lonetta’s pumpkin just would not stay upright. It kept rolling forward and back, threatening to dump her in the water if the helpers let go from steadying it. After a long series of tries she got out (to much applause for trying) into the water and pushed the pumpkin to the side next to the dock.
She was already too far away from me to take any pictures, so I left the dock and sat down.
I thought it was over for Lonetta. I noticed Linda walking farther out to the dock’s end and wondered why. When I got up to look, Lonetta was walking in the water and had pushed here pumpkin all the way to the end of the dock. She was attempting to push it all around to the starting point.
If it didn’t stay upright here, it sure as heck wasn’t going to stay upright at the starting line. I thought maybe she was going to give it one more good ole college try. I couldn’t see out that far, especially with all the crowds, so I sat it out.
When the race ended, I found Lonetta and gave her belongings back. To my surprise, she told me she was in the race after all. She didn’t win but, by golly, she did race. Some people had gathered and re-cut and re-configured her pumpkin to allow it to float properly. Bravo!
On of my favorite cartoons is of a frog in the mouth of a pelican with his head and arms sticking out of the pelican’s pouch. The frog has his hands around the pelican’s neck, trying to strangle him. The caption reads. "Never, ever give up!"
I try to follow that credo myself with varying degrees of success. To actually see it in action is a joy. I want to issue my first my first "No Frog Left Behind" award to Lonetta Swartout for "pushing pumpkins past people’s predictions" and never, ever giving up.
John Kosmer ranges the Otsego Lake region from his perch in Fly Creek.