HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (AP) — A pumpkin named Rocky has won a major annual award pumpkin weighing contest in Northern California, tipping the scales at 2,389 pounds (1,083 kilograms), but fell well short of a possible new world record set just days earlier in Rhode Island.
Horticulture teacher Travis Gienger transported his pumpkin across the country from Minnesota to win the competition for a fifth time. He went 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 last year’s competition because his pumpkin broke while growing. Hoping for a comeback, he named this year’s pumpkin “Rocky” in homage to the iconic boxer played by Sylvester Stallone.
“Five-time champion, that’s what we came here for,” Gienger said after the victory.
The heaviest pumpkin race is hot this year
Meanwhile, on Saturday, a new world record for heaviest pumpkin appears to have been set by Ron Wallace of Greene, Rhode Island, at a competition in New England. His giant squash weighed 3,156 pounds (1,431.5 kilograms), almost the weight of three concert grand pianos. This has not yet been verified by the Guinness Book of World Recordswhich lists a 2,857 pound (1,296 kilogram) squash grown by Ian Paton, of Lymington, England. This record had been set a few days earlier.
“I take my hat off to him, he’s a big pumpkin,” Gienger said.
Gienger grows his squash in his pumpkin patch in Anoka, a town on the banks of the Mississippi River north of Minneapolis, according to Ronan Fowler, the contest organizer. This year, Gienger had to deal with temperatures dropping below freezing, and he says that to start competing more seriously, he’ll probably have to start growing pumpkins in an air-conditioned environment.
“The fact that Travis could withstand the elements, like 30 degrees, and still grow this huge pumpkin is pretty amazing,” Fowler said.
California pumpkin weigh-off is in its sixth decade
Gienger and his family drove 35 hours over the weekend to bring the small car-sized pumpkin to California.
Hundreds of people attended the 53rd World Championship Pumpkin Weigh to enjoy food trucks, music and pumpkin 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 featured in a parade in Half Moon Bay this weekend. Gienger did not receive an additional $30,000 prize for breaking the world record.
Unfortunately, these giants are grown for their size and not their flavor. So there were no giant pumpkin pies at the end of the festival.
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Rodriguez reported from San Francisco.
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