HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (AP) — A Rhode Island pumpkin grower appears to have broken the world record for heaviest pumpkin, with his giant squash surpassing the current record by nearly 300 pounds (136 kilograms).
Ron Wallace of Greene, Rhode Island, weighed his pumpkin Saturday at a competition in New England and is now waiting for the Guinness Book of World Records to confirm that he has broken the record, set about a week earlier by a grower in England. Wallace said he has been in contact with Guinness officials who say his record is in the process of being verified.
“It’s really huge, it’s been a pleasure growing up,” 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 October 3.
Guinness officials did not respond to a request for comment.
The record-breaking squash comes as growers around the world compete this month in hopes of having their pumpkins crowned queen. On Monday in Northern California, a Minnesota grower won a major annual competition for the fifth time in a row.
Potentially record-breaking pumpkin
Wallace went home with $3,500 from his local competition. He said other competitions had tried to lure him with bigger prizes, some totaling $70,000, but it was important for him to be surrounded by his hometown to achieve a record victory.
“I was just elated, the place exploded,” Wallace said, describing the moment the pumpkin was weighed.
Wallace says he owes a lot to the pumpkin growing community that always freely shares tips and tricks for growing the biggest squash. For the first time this year, Wallace started growing his pumpkins in a greenhouse, which he says is making a big difference.
“The only way to 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 part of the pumpkin growing community and says the competitions help legitimize growers. According to Wallace, the agricultural industry is increasingly reaching out to pumpkin growers, asking for advice on soil and other growing techniques.
California pumpkin weigh-off is in its sixth decade
In Northern California, a pumpkin named Rocky won a major annual award pumpkin weighing contesttipping the scales at 2,389 pounds (1,083 kilograms), but fell well short of a possible new world record.
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.
Gienger and his family drove 35 hours, carrying a pumpkin the size of a small car, to California.
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 has 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 like Wallace’s.
“The fact that Travis could withstand the elements, like 30 degrees, and still grow this huge pumpkin is pretty amazing,” Fowler said.
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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Associated Press writer Olga R. Rodriguez in San Francisco contributed to this report.
Gn bussni
