Pete Mohr of Longmont has something giant in his backyard that is right out of a fairy tale. After months of sheltering, feeding, pruning, watering and dreaming the moment of truth for this grower has finally arrived. It is time to see just how much his giant pumpkin weighs.

Growers from across Colorado will be participating in the 4th Annual Rocky Mountain Giant Vegetable Growers weigh-off on Saturday, September 26th. The event will take place at Jared's Nursery in Littleton, 10500 W. Bowles Avenue, starting at 10 a.m. with the children's weigh-off, followed by the main event at 11 a.m. Pumpkins that are expected to weigh more than 1,000 pounds will compete to see which is the biggest pumpkin in Colorado. Admission is free to the public. More than 2,000 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, straw mazes for the kids, music, face painting, the galleria of ghouls, audience voting and of course, some really amazing pumpkins. Even with the cooler weather we have had this summer we suspect that the Colorado state record might be broken this year." The current Colorado record was set by Joe Scherber of Wheat Ridge last year at 1,135 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 these giant pumpkins can be more than 13 feet in circumference and can put on as much as 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 nearly 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 two years ago by Joe Jutras of Rhode Island and weighed an amazing 1,689 pounds.

For more information about the 4th Annual RMGVG weigh-off at Jared's Nursery or to get more information on how to grow giant vegetables visit www.coloradopumpkins.com.