"Close your eyes and aim!" Pumpkin drop in Lake Geneva involves zip-line and bullseye

LAKE GENEVA -- When it comes to pumpkins on Halloween, there are a lot of options. You can eat them, carve them, and stick a candle inside them -- but throwing them is typically frowned upon -- unless you're in Lake Geneva.

Melissa Rodeffer was one of those who swallowed her nerves, and headed into the forest for an autumn adventure in Lake Geneva ahead of Halloween.

"I'll be alright," Rodeffer said.

Lake Geneva Canopy Tours

"Fall, of course, is an attractive time for folks to come out. We were voted the best way to see Wisconsin`s fall colors," an official with Lake Geneva Canopy Tours said.

Lake Geneva Canopy Tours

Lake Geneva Canopy Tours take guests through about 100 acres of forest. While the tours are offered year-round, for one weekend each year, success is judged on how well you fall.

"I think it will be hard!" a pumpkin thrower said.

"Just praying and throwing and screaming," a pumpkin thrower said.

"We take them up there, get them all clipped in, then two at a time, they`ll race down and try to get it on our big bullseye," a Lake Geneva Canopy Tours official said.

Lake Geneva Canopy Tours

Of the more than 400 who try this 'Great Pumpkin Drop,' few succeed.

"I would guess 10%," a Lake Geneva Canopy Tours official said.

"She bet me $100 -- and then whoever gets there first gets another $50," a pumpkin thrower said.

"You got to drop it early. You don`t want to wait too long. You`ll overshoot the target," a pumpkin thrower said.

Lake Geneva Canopy Tours

These would-be jack-o-lanterns get torpedoed into a growing gourd graveyard.

"Frankly -- we leave them and the deer clean 'em up!" a Lake Geneva Canopy Tours official said.

Once the 'Great Pumpkin Drop' participants are on the zip-line, it's time for them to close their eyes and aim!

"I`m going to chuck it. Chuck it real hard!" a pumpkin thrower said.

Lake Geneva Canopy Tours

Pumpkin speeds can reach over 30 miles-per-hour -- and participants get just one shot!

"If you hit (the bullseye), you are really good and you get a prize!" a Lake Geneva Canopy Tours official said.

So many pumpkins are smashed during the fall festival in Lake Geneva that a pumpkin patch has started to grow near the target.

Can't wait until next fall to try it? Lake Geneva Canopy Tours offers an egg drop around Easter.