High-speed squash at Screaming Pumpkin Derby

There was a kind of magic in the air at the annual carving party when Karen Shimer first thought up the notion of using pumpkins as race cars.

Magic, or something equally spirited.

“I think I was having a couple glasses of wine when we were carving pumpkins at our get-together, and I thought, ‘This needs to be more exciting. Let’s put wheels on these suckers,'” Shimer said with a laugh.

From there, the Screaming Pumpkin Derby was born.

Shimer, owner of Vancouver-based The Butler Did It Catering, took her idea and ran with it, turning it into a community event for charity three years ago.

By pretty much all accounts, it’s been a hit ever since.

“I won my second race,” said 8-year-old Hayden Kahler, who built a pumpkin racer called “Ghost Lights” and ran it in Saturday’s event. “Mine crashed into the others and the top flew off.”

The family didn’t have time to make pumpkin racers this year, but next year will be a different story, Ariana said.

“The pumpkins are cool,” she said. “They love crashing.”

Hayden’s dad, Ryan Kahler, said he’s been bringing his wife and four kids since the event launched in 2010. The family keeps a box with wheels from broken toys and other props that they can play with when they make their pumpkins each year, he said.

“It’s a lot of trial and error when you build them,” Kahler said. “Mainly, it’s just putting them together and rolling them on the floor to see how they’ll work. Part of the fun is not practicing and just seeing how they do on the ramp.”

The event doesn’t make a huge profit — usually $100 or $200 — but whatever it makes goes to charity, Shimer said.

Last year, the profit went to Share House.

This year, it went to Nicole Hurd, a 27-year-old from Fisher’s Landing who’s raising funds to go on a Christian mission to Nicaragua with the Forward Edge organization. People can donate to her team, No. 1151 Summit View, at http://forwardedge.org/teamfees.

Next year, Shimer hopes to enlarge the event and possibly move it to a bigger location. It’s grown so much that it’s getting a little cramped at Serendipity’s Events and Photography center, she said.

“Our goal is to team up with a partner next year, maybe have a few tracks, and have a couple hundred racers,” Shimer said.

Sue Vorenberg: 360-735-4457; http://twitter.com/col_SueVo; sue.vorenberg@columbian.com.