GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – What is the sound that a falling pumpkin makes when it hits the ground?

Hundreds of people know the answer on Long Island. They paid $9 admission for a pumpkin-smashing event at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, N.Y.

The crowd cheered Friday as several hundred overripe pumpkins were dropped from a second-story balcony to burst and splatter in a moist explosion of seeds and pulp.

The largest weighed several hundred pounds.

Eleven-year-old Brian Scala said it was “really cool.”

The pumpkins were donated by a local nursery and will be reused as compost.

Customer memorialized by chair at NY Starbucks

NEW YORK – One customer’s favorite purple velvet chair at a Starbucks in a New York suburb has become a memorial.

Employees at the store in Nyack say the chair was favored by Fleming Taylor, a paying customer even though he was homeless.

Store assistant manager Mark Horwitz says people would give the cafe’s gift cards to Taylor.

Store employees and acquaintances say Taylor’s body was found Wednesday under the stairwell where he lived.

Now that purple velvet chair has been cordoned off with black ribbons and bouquets have been placed on the seat in Taylor’s honor.