HALF MOON BAY, Calif. Oct 13 (AP/UNB) — A Rhode Island pumpkin grower appears to have broken the world record for the heaviest pumpkin, with his giant squash topping the current record by nearly 300 pounds (136 kilograms).
Ron Wallace of Greene, Rhode Island, weighed his pumpkin Saturday at a contest in New England and is now waiting for the Guinness Book of World Records to confirm he smashed the record, set about a week earlier by a grower in England. Wallace said he's been in contact with Guinness officials who say his record is on track to be verified.
"It's truly massive, it was a pleasure to grow," Wallace said Monday by phone.
The Guinness Book of World Records currently lists a 2,857-pound (1,296-kilogram) squash grown by Ian Paton, of Lymington, England, as the record holder, set on Oct. 3.
Guinness officials did not respond to a request for comment.
The record-breaking gourd comes as growers across the world are joining competitions this month in the hopes their pumpkins will be crowned king. In Northern California on Monday, a Minnesota grower won a prominent annual competition for the fifth time in a row.
Potential record-breaking pumpkin
Wallace went home with $3,500 at his local contest. He said other competitions tried to entice him with bigger prize money, some totaling $70,000, but it was important for him to be surrounded by his hometown for the record-setting win.
"I was just ecstatic, the place just exploded," Wallace said, describing the moment the pumpkin was weighed.
Wallace says he owes a lot to the pumpkin-growing community who always freely share tips and tricks to grow the biggest gourd. For the first time this year, Wallace began growing his pumpkins in a greenhouse, which he says makes a big difference.
"The only way you create a 3,000-pound pumpkin is a community working together," he said.
Wallace got into the hobby after starting his own business selling gardening supplies online. He's proud to be a part of the pumpkin-growing community and says competitions help legitimize growers. According to Wallace, the agriculture industry is increasingly reaching out to pumpkin-growers, asking for advice on soil and other growing techniques.
The California pumpkin weigh-off is in its sixth decade
In Northern California, a pumpkin named Rocky won a major annual pumpkin-weighing contest, tipping the scale at 2,389 pounds (1,083 kilograms), but fell far short of a possible new world record.
Horticulture teacher Travis Gienger hauled his pumpkin across the country from Minnesota to win the contest for a fifth time. He's going home with $21,501 in prize money after beating dozens of other giant pumpkin-growers in Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco.
He missed out on last year's contest because his pumpkin broke while growing. Hoping for a comeback story, he named this year's pumpkin "Rocky" after the iconic boxer played by Sylvester Stallone.
"Five-time champion, that's what we came here to do," Gienger said following the win.
Gienger and his family drove 35 hours, lugging a pumpkin the size of a small car, to California.
Gienger grows his gourds in his backyard pumpkin patch in Anoka, a city on the banks of the Mississippi River north of Minneapolis, according to Ronan Fowler, the competition's organizer. This year, Gienger had to deal with temperatures that dipped below freezing, and he says that in order to start competing more seriously, he'll likely have to start growing pumpkins in a climate-controlled environment like Wallace.
"The fact that Travis can weather the elements, like 30-degree weather, and still grow this massive pumpkin is pretty unbelievable," Fowler said.
Hundreds attended the 53rd World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off to enjoy food trucks, music, and pumpkin-related jokes. Earlier in the day, the crowd went wild when a very symmetrical pumpkin named Tinkerbell won the prettiest pumpkin contest.
The prize money was calculated at $9 per pound of pumpkin, and Gienger's winning gourd will be showcased during a parade through Half Moon Bay this weekend. Gienger missed out on an extra prize of $30,000 for breaking the world record.
Sadly, these giants are grown for their size, not flavor, so there were no giant pumpkin pies at the end of the festival.