The pumpkins in Smoky Lake, Alta., just keep getting bigger.
The largest pumpkin ever weighed at the 17 Annual Great White North Pumpkin Fair and Weigh-off tipped the scales at 475 kilograms this year.
“I didn’t expect it to be that heavy,” said Archie Lingl of Kelowna, B.C., who grew the giant fruit.
Giant pumpkin growers use charts and measurements to estimate the weight of their pumpkins throughout the season. Lingl’s pumpkin was 24 percent heavier than the charts predicted.
“I’d never seen one go that heavy,” said Lingl, who holds the previous fair record, set in 2001 with a 409.8 kg pumpkin.
Read Also
Organic farmers urged to make better use of trade deals
Organic growers should be singing CUSMA’s praises, according to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
“It was just a heavy pumpkin.”
The second place pumpkin weighed 415.2 kg and was grown by Gavin Gibb of Westbank, B.C.
Lingl said there is no secret to growing a giant pumpkin. It starts with using good seed and starting the gourd early in a greenhouse to get a jump on the season.
“I could show anyone how to grow a pumpkin.”
Lingl said Kelowna is not a particularly good pumpkin growing area because the nights are too cool.
Pumpkins like hot days and warm, moist nights to grow to a winning size. Some pumpkin growers keep the pumpkins in greenhouses all season to mimic ideal conditions.
Eddy Zaychowsky of Airdrie, Alta won first prize for the biggest squash, which weighed 161.1 kg.
Irene Crews of Lloydminster, Alta., grew the largest watermelon, which weighed 36 kg.
Barry Wood, Smoky Lake’s pumpkin festival organizer, doesn’t know the economic spinoff the event has for the region, but said it has put the community on the tourist map.
“We’re a one day wonder. It’s a huge thing for one day,” said Wood.
He estimated almost 5,000 people came to the weigh off at the beginning of October.
“The service sector in Smoky Lake is very busy that day.”
