Oct. 11 (UPI) — Minnesota resident Travis Gienger’s 2,560 pound pumpkin won the World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif.
The event brings growers together to celebrate the agricultural heritage of the bay area with giant vegetables squaring off on the California city’s main street.
Gienger took the top prize with his pumpkin named “Maverick” after driving the behemoth 35 hours from his home in Anoka, Minn., to Half Moon Bay. Gienger also won in 2020 with a pumpkin that weighed in at 2350 pounds.
“They all said it was a once in a lifetime type thing and gosh, hopefully we can do it for two times in a lifetime,” Gieinger told ABC7 News.
While “Maverick” has broken the U.S. record it still hasn’t usurped the title of “world’s largest pumpkin.” That honor goes to Italian grower Stefano Cutripi, who earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records when his 2,703 pound pumpkin won the 2021 European Pumpkin Weighing Championship in Ludwigsburg Germany.
The previous national record was set on October 2nd by Scott Andrusz who’s pumpkin weighed in at 2,554 pounds at the Great Pumpkin Farm in Clarence, N.Y.
Gienger will receive a prize of $23,040 — nine dollars for each pound — but won’t receive the $30,000 bonus that is reserved for the world record.
