October 16, 2026, 10:39 a.m. ET
This might be the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown was looking for.
On Saturday, October 10, Ron Wallace, an online garden supply retailer, broke a world record after growing a pumpkin that weighed about as much as a mid-sized car, according to Guinness World Records. Wallace broke the record set the previous week by UK nursery owner Ian Paton on October 3.
Wallace’s pumpkin, which was weighed at the Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Warren, Rhode Island, weighed 3,156 pounds, according to Guinness World Records in a press release. His pumpkin weighed 300 pounds more than Paton’s gourd, which weighed 2,856 pounds, 12.8 ounces.
The video shows the huge pumpkin being weighed.
See the gargantuan gourd
This is Wallace’s third record-breaking pumpkin
This is the third time Wallace has broken the record. He first did it in 2006, when he grew a 1,502-pound pumpkin, the first to exceed the 1,500 mark. He did it again in 2012, when he grew a pumpkin weighing 2,009 pounds, becoming the first person to grow a pumpkin weighing more than 2,000 pounds.
“(My first two records) were both historic achievements at the time, but this one seems a little more special,” Wallace told Guinness World Records. “I had a few years of growth as I took a more scientific approach. It was great to see it all come together!”
Record Pumpkin Days Aside
According to Guinness World Records, it is “unheard of” for a record to be broken in such a short time.
The only other time something similar happened was in October 1999, when a producer in the United States broke the record set by another in the United Kingdom on the same day.
Belgian farmer Mathias Willemijnsheld held the title longest, almost five years, after his pumpkin, which weighed 2,624.6 pounds, broke the record in 2016.
Julia Gomez is a trends reporter for USA TODAY covering space phenomena, scientific studies and natural disasters. Connect with her on LinkedIn, X, Instagram and TikTok: @juliamariegz, or email her at jgomez@gannett.com
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