HALF MOON BAY –– Will the world pumpkin heavyweight record be squashed in Half Moon Bay, California? The intrigue is building as Superstar Gourd Growing Greats and their astonishing, mind-boggling, Volkswagen-sized orange orbs gather on the morning of Monday, October 14 for the 40th Annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off –– in the World Pumpkin Capital of Half Moon Bay, California –– the kick-off to Half Moon Bay’s world-famous Art & Pumpkin Festival which takes place October 19-20.
Organizers are offering a $25,000 mega-prize for a new world record pumpkin entered at Half Moon Bay ––– considered the “Super Bowl of Weigh-Offs”. A host of accomplished, grizzled veteran growers will be contending for the coveted title, the $25,000 world record prize and thousands of dollars in additional prize money. In a unique pay-by-the-pound system, the winner is guaranteed to take home a hefty $6 per pound for the champion mega-pumpkin.
To receive the $25,000 world record prize, the grower must break and hold the world record at the conclusion of the Half Moon Bay weigh-off. If two or more growers happen to break the world record at Half Moon Bay, the prize money would go to the grower of the heaviest pumpkin. The current world record is 2009-pounds –– the monster pumpkin was grown by Ron Wallace and set at a weigh-off in Topsfield MA in 2012.
Defending champion Thad Starr, of Pleasant Hill OR, obliterated the formidable field of heavyweight contenders at last year’s Half Moon Bay weigh-off with his humongous, mind-blowing 1,775-pound mega-gourd that set a new California weigh-off record. Beauty will share center stage with beefy brawn –– a special $500 prize will be awarded to the “most beautiful pumpkin” as judged by the audience based on color, shape and size.
On weigh-off reckoning day, the streets around Half Moon Bay will be lined with sagging, overloaded trucks crammed with burly orange behemoths quietly awaiting their place of destiny in the worldwide media spotlight or the Libby’s canning factory, their massive roots firmly planted in buckets of water to prevent weight loss as fans ooh and aah at their sheer, stunning enormity.
Using forklifts and harnesses, the monster gourds will be carefully placed on a 5-ton capacity digital scale under the watchful eye of officials from the San Mateo County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office of Weights, Sealers, and Measures.
The official weighing will take place from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. on the I.D.E.S. Grounds, 735 Main Street in Half Moon Bay. The champion pumpkin, along with the top five pumpkins overall, will be on display at the Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival on October 19-20 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For information on the weigh-off and festival, call 650-726-9652 or visit www.miramarevents.com
2012 Winner
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