Oct 12, 2009 9:30 pm US/Pacific
Iowa Pumpkin Sets Half Moon Bay Weigh-Off Record
HALF MOON BAY (CBS 5 / BCN) ―
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Don Young (far left) sands near his prize pumpkin.
CBS
The pumpkin that landed Iowa resident Don Young first place at the World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay Monday morning is not the biggest he has ever grown, but he said it is the densest.
"I just wanted to grow a big Jack-O-Lantern," the 45-year-old said. He drove 2,000 miles from his hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, to enter his pumpkin in Monday's competition.
It ended up weighing 1,658 pounds, breaking California's previous record of 1,535 pounds, but not enough to top the world record of 1,725 pounds.
The second-place winner was Leonardo Urena, of Napa, who had a 1,470-pound pumpkin. Third place went to Ron Root, of Citrus Heights, who grew a 1,247-pound pumpkin. Another Napa resident, Pete Glasier, took fourth place with a 1,174-pound pumpkin, and fifth place went to Joel Holland of Washington whose pumpkin weighed 1,121 pounds.
"It's a big victory," Young said after his pumpkin's weight was announced to the crowd of hundreds who had gathered to watch the contest. "Everybody wants a little more. We'll figure out the logistical things...I'm definitely coming back."
He said he and his wife have been growing pumpkins for five years. They started because they "grew bored" of harvesting corn and soybeans, two staples of Iowa farming.
The pumpkin that earned him first place Monday is slightly more than 100 days old, he said.
It takes "a lot of science" and organic products such as beneficial bacteria to grow giant pumpkins, according to Young.
To keep the pumpkin fresh for the days of driving to California, he kept a wet blanket over the pumpkin and left its four vines soaking in bags of water.
Any time he stopped for gas or food and saw a hose, he'd wet the pumpkin, he said.
The mammoth pumpkin measured at 5 feet 4 inches tall and 14 feet 4 inches in circumference, according to the San Mateo County Agricultural Commissioner's Office of Weights, Sealers and Measures, which was responsible for weighing and measuring the pumpkins.
Young's pumpkin weighed down his red pickup truck, which boasted the license plate "BIGPMKN," shuddered when a forklift removed the pumpkin from the back just before it was weighed.
Glasier, whose pumpkin came in fourth, said he has participated in pumpkin growing competitions for almost 30 years.
"I've got the virus," he said of farming the orange beasts. "I just love to grow things. I've been a farmer all my life, and there's nothing like growing a giant pumpkin."
He said giant pumpkins can grow about 30 to 40 pounds a day, and take between 80 and 100 days to mature before they can be harvested.
Young earned $9,948 for coming in first, with the first place prize money determined by how many pounds the pumpkin weighed. The winner earned $6 per pound.
Second place was $2,000, third was $1,500, fourth was $1,000 and fifth was $500, according to event organizers.
The top five largest pumpkins at today's contest will be displayed at the Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival on Oct. 17 and 18 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the city's Main Street.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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