Minnesota Horticulture Teacher Wins California Contest for Pumpkin Weighing 2,350 lb

Minnesota Horticulture Teacher Wins California Contest for Pumpkin Weighing 2,350 lb
(Jeff Chiu/AP Photo)
The Associated Press
10/19/2020
Updated:
10/19/2020

HALF MOON BAY, California. Being cooped up at home due to the pandemic paid handsomely for a Minnesota horticulture teacher who used the extra time to constantly water and feed a massive pumpkin that won this year’s Half Moon Bay pumpkin contest.

Travis Gienger, of Anoka, Minnesota, spent a lot of his free time in the pumpkin patch in his backyard, watering his plants up to 10 times a day and feeding and fertilizing them at least twice each day.

People lift a pumpkin onto a scale to be weighed at the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., Monday, Oct. 12, 2020. (Jeff Chiu/AP Photo)
People lift a pumpkin onto a scale to be weighed at the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., Monday, Oct. 12, 2020. (Jeff Chiu/AP Photo)

Gienger, 40, then drove his gargantuan gourd for 35 hours to see his hard work pay off at the 47th World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco, where his winner came in at 2,350 pounds (approx. 1,066 kg).

“It was nerve-wracking because with every bump on the road I kept thinking, ‘is it going to make it?’“ ”And then finally it got weighed, it was the last one, and oh, my gosh, it’s been incredible!” Gienger said.

Travis Gienger, from Anoka, Minn., poses next to his pumpkin, which weighed in at 2,350 pounds, to win the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., Monday, Oct. 12, 2020. (Jeff Chiu/AP Photo)
Travis Gienger, from Anoka, Minn., poses next to his pumpkin, which weighed in at 2,350 pounds, to win the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., Monday, Oct. 12, 2020. (Jeff Chiu/AP Photo)

Gienger, a landscape and horticulture teacher at Anoka Technical College, has been growing pumpkins since he was a teenager, inspired by his father, who also grew them. It was his first time competing at the Half Moon Bay weigh-off, but he’s not sure he'll be back next year. “I might need a year off from the work and the nerves and everything,” he said, laughing.

Judges measure a large pumpkin during the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off on Oct. 12, 2020, in Half Moon Bay, Calif. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Judges measure a large pumpkin during the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off on Oct. 12, 2020, in Half Moon Bay, Calif. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The first-time pumpkin champ won $16,450, or $7 per pound, for the lumpy orange pumpkin, which will be showcased during a parade through Half Moon Bay on Oct. 19.

People watch as pumpkins are weighed at the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., Monday, Oct. 12, 2020. (Jeff Chiu/AP Photo)
People watch as pumpkins are weighed at the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., Monday, Oct. 12, 2020. (Jeff Chiu/AP Photo)

Gienger’s pumpkin was the second-heaviest ever weighed at the 40-year-old California event, but it was still far from a U.S. record. That was set in 2018 when a grower in New Hampshire produced a pumpkin weighing more than 2,500 pounds (approx. 1,134 kg).

Travis Gienger pumps his fist as he stands next to his 2,350-pound pumpkin during the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off on Oct. 12, 2020, in Half Moon Bay, Calif. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Travis Gienger pumps his fist as he stands next to his 2,350-pound pumpkin during the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off on Oct. 12, 2020, in Half Moon Bay, Calif. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The record for the heaviest pumpkin in the world was set in 2016 at the Giant Pumpkin European Championship in Ludwigsburg, Germany. A Belgium grower’s winning whopper came in at just over 2,600 pounds (approx. 1,179 kg).

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