Pumpkins were whacked, beaten, hit, rolled down a hill, tossed off a deck and otherwise torn apart, ripped open and smashed to bits Saturday.

The annual day of reckoning came for the gourds at the Goodenow Grove Nature Preserve’s Pumpkin Smash event. Each year, event organizers say, more people show up, more pumpkins get smashed and, bit by bit, residents of the Beecher area do their part to compost seasonal vegetable and renew the earth.

It doesn’t hurt that it’s also an afternoon of fun, including free hot dogs, s’mores, a coffee truck and a campfire and, with Saturday’s mild temperatures, more families than ever were showing up. Not even an hour into the four-hour Smash, about 100 pumpkins had been brought in, gaining fast on the total 183 from last year.

“The turnout has been great so far. I think we’re going to beat our record,” said Heather Van Zyl, the nature preserve’s facilities supervisor.

After they’re smashed, the pumpkin shells and guts are cleaned up, loaded into little wagons and carted off to be composted. The pumpkin remnants will be left to decompose and, in a few months, return to the soil from whence they came.

A sign at the event proclaims Illinois to be the top pumpkin producing state, though it does add most of those farms are down south and most of those pumpkins get canned or otherwise turned into food.

Still, the event keeps the gourds from the landfill, which is important, Zyl said. There’s no reason to throw vegetable waste into the garbage, especially when it’s loaded with water, like pumpkins are.

“Every pumpkin we can keep out of the landfill and put into the compost is a huge win,” she said. Pumpkins themselves are fine — but water isn’t the best thing for a landfill.

“Pumpkins are 90% water and when they decompose, that water picks up other things in the landfill, like toxins. All water finds its way into waterways, into streams, rivers and lakes and can add contaminants,” she said.

Plus, the event gets families outdoors and into the Will County Forest Preserve. Zyn said people sometimes ask her what she does during the colder months and she says she tells them, “the same things, just with warmer clothes.”

The night before the pumpkin smash, she led Boy Scouts on a night hike. They dropped off a poinsettia as a thank you that morning. Meanwhile, small kids played in leaf piles. One girl brought Zyn some snake skins she found and families made the most of a mild fall say.

Maria Griffin, out with her two boys, said it was the first smash they’d been to, but they visit the preserve regularly. That’s how they heard about the event.

“We were here a few weeks ago and we saw a banner,” she explained. “We thought it’s a great way to dispose of a pumpkin.”

She had no idea the potential risks of pumpkin water in the landfill.

“It was eye opening, for sure,” she said.

Zyn said there’s no community composting as yet, but she does hope people with a yard will get inspired. It’s an easy way to help nourish the soil.

“Composting is year-round,” she said. “And you can make a huge difference right at home.”

Jesse Wright is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.