Defending champion Travis Gienger of Minnesota won top prize in the 51st annual Safeway World Champion Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay on Monday.  His 2,471-pound prize gourd came just 8 pounds shy of his world record win in 2023. 

“It takes a lot of good soil biology, good soil health and a lot of work in the beginning to get it this big,“ said Gienger, referring to the hoop-house tent he puts over the pumpkin to get it growing early in Nowthen, Minnesota.

In addition to a cash prize of $22,239, which translates to $9 per pound for the winning gourd, the champion will play a starring role in the world-famous Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival this weekend. He will also receive a championship ring and a coveted Mel Mello Sr. Grand Champion Growers Jacket.

Every year farmers from across the country compete, as industrial forklifts and harnesses delicately place the huge vegetables on a scale with a capacity to weigh 5 tons. The whole procedure was overseen by Koren Widdel, San Mateo County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office of Weights, Sealers, and Measures.  

The pumpkins of Eric Carlson of Portola Valley, Calif., and Hailey and Patrick Winnen of Half Moon Bay tie for the Joe Cotchett’s Most Beautiful Pumpkin Award during the 51st Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay on Monday, October. 14, 2024. (Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Weigh-Off via Bay City News)

The grand champion gourd (along with the top four overall) will be on display at the Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m on Saturday and Sunday on Main Street. There is also a special weigh-off champion pumpkin photo booth. Admission is free and open to the public.

Ruth Dusseault is an investigative reporter and multimedia journalist focused on environment and energy. Her position is supported by the California local news fellowship, a statewide initiative spearheaded by UC Berkeley aimed at supporting local news platforms. While a student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism (c’23), Ruth developed stories about the social and environmental circumstances of contaminated watersheds around the Great Lakes, Mississippi River and Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. Her thesis explored rights of nature laws in small rural communities. She is a former assistant professor and artist in residence at Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture, and uses photography, film and digital storytelling to report on the engineered systems that undergird modern life.