HALF MOON BAY, Calif.—The 50th Annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off on Oct. 9, 2023 recorded a new world record, weighing in a pumpkin at 2,749 pounds.
The event was started by Al Adreveno from Half Moon Bay, California. The idea for the pumpkin weigh-off originated at his kitchen table in 1974 when Half Moon Bay was claiming to be the pumpkin capital of the world.
Mr. Adreveno told The Epoch Times: “The mayor [Frank Barnhill] of Circleville, Ohio, happened to be in the area, and he saw that we were making a claim, when they were making that claim as well, so he went to City Hall and wanted to talk to the mayor of Half Moon Bay, which happened to be me at the time. So he came to my house, and we got acquainted and discussed the fact that we were both claiming to be the pumpkin capital of the world.”
Al Adreveno at the Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Oct. 9, 2023. Helen Billings/The Epoch Times
Mr. Adreveno said he and the mayor of Circleville brainstormed the idea of having a weigh-off between the two communities to see who was really the champion pumpkin capital of the world.
“We discussed it with our city council’s budget committee, and then they came down with some ground rules. The first year we had a weigh-off, and we happened to win,” he said.
That first year, Half Moon Bay’s biggest pumpkin was 132 pounds and beat Circleville’s biggest pumpkin by one pound.
“Compared to what you’re seeing today, well over 2,000 pounds—but at that time, that was a big pumpkin,” Mr. Adreveno said.
He said that what started as a discussion between two mayors to have a weigh-off has grown to be an international affair.
Using forklifts and special harnesses, the pumpkins are carefully placed on a 5-ton capacity, industrial-strength digital scale under the watchful eye of officials from the San Mateo County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office of Weights, Sealers, and Measures. Half Moon Bay’s Weigh-Off will serve as an officially sanctioned Great Pumpkin Commonwealth site.
Giant pumpkins on display before they are weighed at the Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Oct. 9, 2023. Helen Billings/The Epoch Times
One large pumpkin is currently more than 7.5 feet wide and was brought by last year’s winner. It required weigh-off organizers to purchase a new scale to accommodate its size.
One grower and landscape designer, Gary Miller from Napa, California, has been growing food for 30 years. He got a commission from Robert Mondavi, one of the premier wine growers in Napa, to grow a giant pumpkin, and he’s been growing lots of pumpkins ever since.
Gary Miller at the Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Oct. 9, 2023. Helen Billings/The Epoch Times
Mr. Miller told The Epoch Times: “I send some to Vegas every year to the Bellagio. They get about 10 pumpkins every year; they get put on display. My pumpkins are there right now.”
Mr. Miller uses all-natural fertilizers and said the growing process is complicated.
“I thought I was going to be able to grow easily because I was born and raised on a farm, had all kinds of animals, milked cows; we had hundreds of acres, growing corn and all that kind of stuff, that was a lot easier than growing pumpkins,” he said. “Pumpkins have their own problems. They get diseases; you can’t over-water; you have to spend a lot of time with them; I mean, they become your child.”
He doesn’t spray for bugs and said, “I just figured that I’d give them a little bit to eat; maybe they’ll leave me alone.”
When the competition is over, Mr. Miller feeds his pumpkins to his chickens since they’re organic, and later the chickens will turn them into more fertilizer for him, which he mixes into the soil.
Mr. Miller said it only takes one seed to grow a large pumpkin, and sometimes people might pay $500 or more for 1 seed, but growers give them freely to him because he’s a well-known grower and they want him to grow. Gary won ninth place and a $1,000 prize for his 1,519-pound pumpkin.
Nick Kennedy, a competitor from Sacramento, California, told The Epoch Times that he always loved having a pumpkin patch as a child. Inspired by his son’s birthday, which is in October, he decided to grow pumpkins. Ever since his son’s first birthday, he has grown a patch of them.
Nick Kennedy at the Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Oct. 9, 2023. Helen Billings/The Epoch Times
“I stumbled upon giant pumpkins about three years ago, and I synced up with my growing partner Ron Root, who was my mentor,” Mr. Kennedy said.
Being a natural competitor, Mr. Kennedy said he grew a 1,350-pound pumpkin his first year. Mr. Root told him that he did well but that the next year Mr. Root could help him get better. That’s when Mr. Kennedy told Mr. Root that he thought they should grow pumpkins together.
Enticed to come out of retirement, Mr. Root joined him to “step it up this year,” which resulted in Mr. Kennedy driving in a 2,497-pound pumpkin to compete. It won second place and $3,000 in prize money. He also took home the prize for biggest pumpkin from California, winning an additional $1,000.
Lee Ellis at the Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Oct. 9, 2023. Helen Billings/The Epoch Times
“We started the seeds in April and we just harvested it last Friday,” he said.
Mr. Kennedy said that his first seeds actually came from a wonderful guy named Leonardo Urena who gave him one of his best seeds.
He said sometimes they make a giant jack-o’-lantern out of a pumpkin to put on display at his house for a Halloween party.
Lee Ellis, a Half Moon Bay resident, told The Epoch Times, “The pumpkin weigh-in is just very, very special to all of us who live here.”
Josh Venters, a competitor from Redmond, Washington, drove in a 1,549-pound pumpkin that achieved sixth place and won $1,000. He told The Epoch Times he came to Half Moon Bay to be a part of the experience.
Josh Venters at the Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Oct. 9, 2023. Helen Billings/The Epoch Times
Mr. Venters said he got into it 12 years ago when a priest at his church came over to his house with a giant pumpkin seed and said he wanted to have a contest to see who could grow the biggest pumpkin. Mr. Venters jokingly said no, because he said he would cheat and since he’s a priest, he would have to go to confession for it.
He said, “That first year, I grew a 795-pound pumpkin and he grew a 50-pound pumpkin, so I just kind of got hooked on it.”
Josh Venters at his home in Redmond, Washington. Courtesy of Josh Venters
He said he likes making a display of the carved pumpkins at the end of his driveway. It ties up traffic for a few weeks, he added, “because everyone drives by and stops, and the UPS guys stop out there and take selfies.”
Children enjoy a field trip to the Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Oct. 9, 2023. Helen Billings/The Epoch Times
Shannah Nardone, a Half Moon Bay resident, who came with her son to the weigh-off with other kindergartners on a field trip, told The Epoch Times, “It’s an amazing opportunity for the town to get together.”
Travis Gienger drove 33 hours from Anoka, Minnesota, with the whopping 2,749-pound pumpkin. It broke his own North American record as well as the world record for the heaviest pumpkin, beating Stefano Cutrupi’s pumpkin from Italy that weighed 2,702 pounds.
For winning first place, the prize was $9 a pound, and he took home an extra $30,000 for breaking the world record.
Travis Gienger at the Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Oct. 9, 2023. Helen Billings/The Epoch Times
He was also awarded a sterling silver “Pumpkin King” champion ring crafted by the local jeweler Goldworks with the weigh-off logo in a 14-karat yellow gold top plate with his name and pumpkin weight engraved on the inside, as well as additional prizes.
He told The Epoch Times: “This one was nicknamed Michael Jordan because it’s year ‘23. Always got to name it something so you can remember.”
He added that for the first 20 days, the pumpkin grew perfectly round like a basketball.
“It just kind of got started when my dad was growing pumpkins when we were little,” he said. “It was a labor of love, but needless to say, I kind of picked it up and ran with it.”
Mr. Gienger has been growing for almost three decades and has been competing for about the same amount of time. He said he purchased a new trailer this year for his pumpkin, and it just fit.
He battled through golf-ball-sized hail during the growing season and had to cover the pumpkin with a tarp. Then there was the long drive to the weigh-off. He said there are a lot of bumps and potholes, and if the pumpkin gets a big enough crack, it could be disqualified.
He said he got the seed from his pumpkin last year, and the seed for last year’s pumpkin came from a grower in New York.
Colleen Granahan at the Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Oct. 9, 2023. Helen Billings/The Epoch Times
He said the pumpkin will go on to be carved for the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest jack-o’-lantern.
Colleen Granahan, a Half Moon Bay native, told The Epoch Times that she has been coming to the event for as long as she can remember. She said she loves watching the lineup of the big pumpkins and seeing all the local folks, and the “most beautiful pumpkin” contest is always fun.
“Seeing the Half Moon Bay high school band is always a highlight,” she said. “It’s a small hometown event that has turned into a little bit more of a three-ring circus.”
Don Bollinger, a competitor from Monte Sereno, California, told The Epoch Times that he’s a lifelong gardener and has been growing this variety of pumpkins for 25 years.
Don Bollinger at the Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Oct. 9, 2023. Helen Billings/The Epoch Times
He said, “I’ve been growing the big ones for about 12 years.”
He got the championship seeds from his mother.
He came this year hoping to reach the top 10, and he just made it, achieving 10th place with his pumpkin weighing 1,499 pounds. He took home $1,000 in prize money.
He plants his seed on April 1, he said.
“They bloom about the 4th of July, they grow about 30 pounds a day through late July, all through August; they slow down in September,” he said.
This year he managed to grow two large pumpkins—Little Brother, a 900-pound pumpkin that went to the Master Gardeners Festival in San Jose; and Big Brother, which he brought to Half Moon Bay.
He said, “It’s fun to be here, going to the scale and seeing what you get.”
