The local news story
What you're seeing there is the winning entry in Delaware's annual "Punkin Chunkin" contest, in which people build elaborate weaponry to fire ripe pumpkins into the woods.
Some people don't think Delaware belongs in the south, but they are wrong. (I mean that in the best way possible.)
This event sounds really cool, and nobody can take a decent picture of it! It's another case of where I really should be on the road with the ol' digital, getting shots in person for you all...
79 contraptions were built for this year's contest. The key: no propellants other than air are permitted.
The winner shot its fruit 3,881.54 feet. How they know: they measure it with GPS!
The distance category is "air cannons", as shown above. But the other categories are cool: trebuchet, centrifugal, catapult, human-powered.
The story says that Discovery Channel was on hand, but I have no info on what they shot or when they'll air it.