Minnesota Grown Pumpkin Sets North American Record

HALF MOON BAY, CALIFORNIA (WJON News) -- A pumpkin grown here in Minnesota has set a new record.

Monday at the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, California they announced two-time winner Travis Gienger of Anoka is this year's Pumpkin King. His 2,560-pound Rhinoceros-sized Mega Gourd set a new North American Record on its way to taking first place.

Gienger drove the gargantuan gourd for 35 hours to see his hard work pay off at the 49th World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco.

Gienger, who also won the same contest in Northern California in 2020, broke a record set last week in New York where a grower raised a massive pumpkin weighing 2,554 pounds.

A grower in Italy holds the world record for the heaviest pumpkin. He grew a 2,702-pound squash in 2021, according to Guinness World Records.

Get our free mobile app

The Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off is offering a special $30,000 mega-prize for the world record breaking pumpkin at the prestigious Half Moon Bay event. To receive the $30,000 mega-prize, the grower must break and hold the world record at the conclusion of the Half Moon Bay Weigh-Off.

LOOK: How Halloween has changed in the past 100 years

Stacker compiled a list of ways that Halloween has changed over the last 100 years, from how we celebrate it on the day to the costumes we wear trick-or-treating. We’ve included events, inventions, and trends that changed the ways that Halloween was celebrated over time. Many of these traditions were phased out over time. But just like fake blood in a carpet, every bit of Halloween’s history left an impression we can see traces of today.

Source: Minnesota Grown Pumpkin Sets North American Record

Filed Under: giant pumpkin

Categories: Lifestyle