By: Imani Jones

The fall spirit is alive and pumpkin patches are flourishing in business carrying gourds in all shapes, colors and sizes. Finding the perfect pumpkin to create a Jack O’Lantern that will be proudly displayed on each decorated doorstep is crucial to the spooky season’s traditions. In celebration of pumpkin harvest, the small city of Half Moon Bay in California is kicking off their annual 50th World Champion Pumpkin Weigh-Off.  

Each year, individuals all over the world are brought together for their shared love of cultivation, the season of fall and simply the intriguing sight of gargantuan gourds. The Pumpkin Weigh-Off was held Monday, Oct. 9, where experienced gardeners from the Napa and Sacramento areas prepared to showcase their biggest pumpkin from this past season’s harvest. Organizers of the championship had a sense of a new world record as they prepared with up-to-date heavy duty scales that could bear weights larger than 2,560lbs. In honor of the first place winner with the largest pumpkin, $9 was rewarded per pound, and an additional $30,000 mega-prize was granted to the world record breaking pumpkin in the event. Can you imagine winning this prize?!

Well, Travis Geinger, the horticulture teacher who traveled all the way from Anoka County, Minn. has turned this imaginative thought into a striking reality. The 2023 winner of the festival took the competition by surprise with a pumpkin named Michael Jordan, weighing in at a whopping 2,749lbs. This enormous size– which is comparable to a small car– has broken the previous Guinness World Record of a squash produced by an Italian gardener in 2021, weighing in at 2,702lbs. Ginger has been growing the average pumpkins in his backyard for nearly 30 years, but for this specific harvest, he watered his creation up to 12 times a day and paid extra attention to the feed and fertilizer. Michael Jordan has now been on display alongside the three  runner up pumpkins at the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival. Travis Geinger exclaims that he put in the work so he can put a smile on everyone’s faces! 


Photo Courtesy of Cowboy State Daily website