Giant pumpkins pile on the record book

Both pumpkins (and a lot more) will be on display this weekend during the 54th annual Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival. Festival goers can take their photos with the champion pumpkins during the event, held from 9 a.m to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 17 and 18, on Half Moon Bay’s historic Main Street. For details and directions: https://hmbpumpkinfest.com/

Locally, Napa farmer Linden Fowler set a new Elk Grove Giant Pumpkin Festival record – 2,195 pounds – with his ton-topping homegrown contestant, earning Fowler the first prize of $7,000. It was Fowler’s first weigh-off victory.

“I started getting obsessed and fascinated with the hobby or sport, but it’s a great way to spend time outside, see sunsets, and just connect with nature,” said Fowler, who started growing pumpkins only four years ago.

Fowler credited the support and knowledge he got from veteran growers for his success. “Like most things in life, the more community and support you have, the further you can go. I think that’s what helped get me to where I made it this year.”

Growing giants is a commitment, he noted. Fowler estimated that he spent four to five hours a day for four months, watering, feeding and tending four vines. His dog Max helped, too, guarding the patch from critters.

As big as those pumpkins were, they were all surpassed in late September at Wheatland’s National Pumpkin Weigh-Off, which kicked off the West Coast pumpkin contest season Sept. 26. A 25-year veteran of competitive pumpkin growing, Oregon farmer Jim Sherwood trucked down his oddly shaped giant nicknamed “SpongeBlob,” which tipped the scales at 2,613 pounds – a new record for an Oregon-grown pumpkin. He noted that he wasn’t sure the pumpkin would survive the trip due to its weird shape.

But all these ton-topping gourds were surpassed last weekend by a pumpkin in Rhode Island. Opting to stick close to home so his friends could see his success, Ron Wallace submitted a giant that exceeded his wildest dreams – a potential world record 3,156 pounds and the first time a giant pumpkin has officially eclipsed the 3,000-pound mark in a weigh-off.

Guinness Book of World Records is currently reviewing the entry just a week after certifying a new world record pumpkin – 2,857 pounds and grown in England.

“It’s truly massive; it was a pleasure to grow,” said Wallace, who earned $4,000 for his prize pumpkin – about $1.25 a pound.