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Travis Gienger, of Anoka, Minnesota, beat his closest competitor
by 6 pounds (2.7 kilograms) to clinch the victory at the 51st
World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, south of
San Francisco.
His winning gourd came in at 2,471 pounds (1,121 kilograms),
falling short of the world record he set last year with a
pumpkin weighing 2,749 pounds (1,247 kilograms).
Gienger, 44, said that as he has done in the past, he focused on
having healthy soil and well-fed plants but that a cold fall
with record-breaking rain likely impacted his pumpkin's growth.
“We had really, really tough weather and somehow, some way, I
kept on working," Gienger said. “I had to work for this one, and
we got it done at the end, but it wasn’t by much.”
Gienger and his family drove his gargantuan gourd for 35 hours
to California.
He said the giant pumpkin's next stop will be in Southern
California, where a team of professional carvers will do a 3D
carve on it at a Halloween event.
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