RE: Money (was: GPC Squash Determination)
Greg,
Trying to take the money out of the hobby/sport won't work. Weighoffs
require funding just to run, even without prizes. Just promoting a weighoff
requires a sponsor and its moolah. Money, no matter what anyone thinks or
wants, is here to stay.
I believe that non-growers who attend weighoffs do so to see someone win.
And, in today's world, winning is measured in monetary units. The talk
around the water cooler won't be, "Hey, I saw a 1,300 pound pumpkin last
Saturday." Instead, it'll be, "I saw a guy win $10,000 just for growing a
pumpkin!" People can envision 10 grand a whole lot easier than a 1,300 pound
fruit.
Face it, money talks. Besides, money does not automatically corrupt
everything and everyone. To insist that does -- even to suggest that it does
-- is rather insulting.
For those who don't like mixing the green of money with the orange of
pumpkins, there are plenty of money-free weighoffs all around the U.S. A
weighoff without money is called a state fair.
But, it's hard to pay for fertilizer, bug spray and water with blue ribbons.
Paul Thompson
-----Original Message-----
From: Greg Sanchez
Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2002 3:20 PM
To: pumpkins@hort.net
Subject: Re: GPC Squash Determination
It's amazing that everything that starts out as fun cheap hobby, gets taken
over by people who love to create organizations that finally become
political and ruin the fun. It seems that we are not far from the day when
seeds are not given away for free or trade of another seed. People will
more often grow for money, and not for hobby. Why don't we not get sponsors
for our pumpkin growing hobby? Who cares if there isn't any prize money? I
don't, and many others don't either. Perhaps the growers here should not
get their pumpkins weighed in at weigh-offs that give away money. Perhaps
we should all stop buying seeds. I think the politics would die down pretty
fast if the money was taken out. I think the quest to have one's name after
the weight of their pumpkin with others using their seeds is enough to push
this hobby. I don't think sponsors or prizes are needed at all.
Greg
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