The 22nd annual giant pumpkin weigh-off is just days away and Uesugi Farm in San MartÃn is preparing for a great contest this year.
The prize money – more than $20,000 total – is actually a larger purse than Half Moon Bay’s annual contest.
The first-place pumpkin wins $7 per pound, with a bonus of $30,000 if it’s a world record pumpkin. The current world record is 1,818 pounds by Jim and Kelsy Bryson.
Come to Uesugi Farms on Saturday at 1 p.m. for the weigh-off. The pumpkin patch is located at 14485 Monterey Road in San Martin.
The Brysons’ record was set at the Price Edward County Pumpkinfest in Wellington, Ontario, Canada in October 2011. The current California state record is 1,704 pounds, held by Leonardo Urena of Napa. Urena’s record was set at Half Moon Bay in October 2011. The largest pumpkin weighed at Uesugi is 1,610 pounds, grown by Thad Starr of Pleasant Hill, Ore. and featured at the 2011 competition.
For the past six years Uesugi Farms Pumpkin Park has been a certified weigh-off site for the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth. With more than 70 weigh-off locations around the world the GPC is the major organizer and sanctioning body overseeing competitions in giant pumpkin and vegetable growing.
The GPC sets the recognized standard for all world records in the curcurbita maxima family as used by Guinness for their world record endeavors. GPC growers have set the world records for the past 15 years.
