Pumpkin to talk about: North American record set by goard at Bay Area contest

A Minnesota grower squashed a national record for growing the largest pumpkin at the “Super Bowl of Weigh-Offs,” otherwise known as the annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay.

Travis Gienger’s Rhino Gourd weighed in at a staggering 2,560 pounds on Monday, beating the North American record set just last week in a pumpkin weigh-off in Clarence, New York.

With the first-place prize set at a whopping $9 per pound, the massive gourd raked in $23,040 for Gienger, who hails from Anoka, Minnesota.

“To create a new North American largest pumpkin is just incredible,” Gienger said shortly after his announced win. “This is really special, to be able to grow a pumpkin that can break records.”

Since April, Gienger grew the pumpkin from a seed from the current world’s heaviest pumpkin, a 2,702-pound gourd grown in Italy in 2021.

Though his eye was set for the coveted international record, Gienger already has a world record under his belt — in 2020, he earned a Guinness World Record for carving a jack-o’-lantern from his 2,350-pound pumpkin, which also won the Half Moon Bay competition and broke national records.

He found a knack for gigantic pumpkins after growing a 447-pound gourd at just 14 years old, and has since grown them for 28 years.

“I want to thank all the growers, because the bar keeps getting raised and that wouldn’t happen without the work they do,” Gienger said, adding a shoutout to the event staff for hosting the competition.

Alongside Gienger, the top 20 pumpkin entries earned their share of thousands of dollars in prize money for titles like the most beautiful pumpkin, the biggest California pumpkin and the biggest Coastside pumpkin.