Lisa Baldwin of Wheat Ridge and Jamie Johnson of Arvada have something orange growing in their gardens that neighbors and passers by are talking about. Pumpkins. Not just ordinary Halloween or pumpkin pie pumpkins, but giant pumpkins. The kind that measure 12 feet in circumference and weigh over 1,000 pounds.
Growers from across Colorado will be participating in the 3rd Annual Rocky Mountain Giant Vegetable Growers weigh-off on Saturday, September 27th. The event will take place at Jared's Nursery in Littleton, 10500 W. Bowles Avenue, starting at 11 a.m. Admission is free to the public. More than 1,200 people attended the event last year.
"It is always fun to see the children's faces the first time they see the pumpkins," said Gary "The Wiz" Grande, President and CEO of the Rocky Mountain Giant Vegetable Growers (RMGVG). "It is a great event with food, audience voting and of course, some really amazing pumpkins. With the warm weather we have had this summer we expect the Colorado record to be broken this year." The current Colorado record was set by Joe Scherber of Wheat Ridge last year at 1,075 pounds.
"The weigh-off is a celebration of our growers' hard work and is a fun way to kick-off the fall season," said Jamie Johnson, media secretary for the RMGVG. "Many people are amazed to hear that a pumpkin can grow 40 pounds in a day."
The record for the world's largest pumpkin was 460 pounds until 1981, when Howard Dill, a grower in Nova Scotia, came up with one that was close to 500 pounds. He patented the seed, and growers around the world jumped to buy Dill's Atlantic Giant. As they crossed and re-crossed varieties, the pumpkins grew ever larger; by 1994, the symbol of Halloween had passed the 1,000-pound mark. The world record pumpkin was grown last year by Joe Jutras of Rhode Island and weighed an amazing 1,689 pounds.
For more information about the RMGVG weigh-off or to get more information on how to grow giant pumpkins or vegetables visit
www.coloradopumpkins.com or email thewizard@coloradopumpkins.com.