In case you hadn’t noticed, fall is in full swing – and what could be more autumnal than a story about a really big pumpkin? The stupendous squash in question is named Rudy, and has just scooped the grand prize at Half Moon Bay’s 51st Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off – a contest we’re ashamed to admit we’d never heard of before now but shall ardently follow going forward.
The monster gourd weighs a whopping 1,121 kilograms (2,471 pounds) – that’s about the same as two grizzly bears or two and a half grand pianos – and was grown by Travis Gienger of Anoka Minnesota who has won the competition no less than four times.
Gienger’s 2023 entry was even heftier: weighing in at a colossal 1,247 kilograms (2,749 pounds) it broke the record for world’s heaviest pumpkin. It’s also the heaviest fruit ever recorded (yep, that’s right, pumpkin’s a fruit).
2024’s winning pumpkin “Rudy”.
Image credit: 2024 Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off
The prize for winning such a prestigious award is suitably lucrative. The Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off operates a “pay-by-the-pound” system, offering $9 for every pound of pumpkin. For a behemoth like Rudy, that amounts to $22,239. Gienger will also have received a Pumpkin King Champions Ring, a jacket, a stay at a luxury hotel, and will play a starring role in the upcoming Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival and Great Pumpkin Parade.
If a world record is broken, like last year, growers are awarded a “mega-prize” of $30,000 – sounds like time to look into pumpkin planting to us.
There’s also a prize for most beautiful pumpkin (why not?), which this year was awarded jointly to Eric Carlson of Portola Valley, California, and Hailey & Patrick Winnen of Half Moon Bay for their gorgeous gourds.
The weigh-off was first held in 1974, when the winning winter squash was a measly 60 kilos (132 pounds). Since then, the entrants have got beefier and beefier – for context, Rudy weighs the equivalent of 100 sausage dogs or 150 bowling balls.
We can’t wait to see what titans next year will bring. Until then, we’ll be marveling at the magnitude of some of the other heavyweights of the fruit world, including this bountiful blueberry.
