Joe Aiello has a message for the self proclaimed “World Pumpkin Capital.”
“We’re after Half Moon Bay, Ok?” said the 66-year-old president of Uesugi Farms Wednesday, still riding the crest of excitement after the world record for heaviest pumpkin was shattered at his San Martin property several days prior. “Our goal has been to become the number one weigh-off site in the United States.”
The ante has packed on some weight since 1991, when a man named Bob White Sr. won Uesugi’s first weigh-off with a 236-pound pumpkin.
More than two decades and a lot of Miracle Grow later, a new record for the world’s heaviest pumpkin was set Oct. 12 at Uesugi Farms’ 23rd Annual Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off, when Napa farmer Tim Mathison’s hulking 2,032-pound squash – the rough equivalent of a female walrus – eclipsed the current world record of 2,009 pounds, which was set last year by Ron Wallace in Topsfield, Mass. Mathison also crushed 23 other Uesugi competitors and nabbed first place.
“I thought that my pumpkin would weigh in around 100 pounds less,” Mathison said. “I was surprised when I saw the scale. I feel like this kind of thing doesn’t happen to regular guys like me. I feel lucky.”
This year, Uesugi Farms dished out $7 per pound in prize money to its champion, meaning Mathison walked away $14,224 richer. If his world record holds through the rest of the 2013 season (which lasts until Oct. 31), he’ll receive an additional prize from Uesugi Farms, bringing his total winnings from this competition up to $30,000.
“We’ve escalated the prize money,” Aiello said. “We’ve wanted to be competitive with Half Moon Bay and we feel like we give a much better venue for the grower.”
Mathison already set the California State Record earlier this month at the Elk Grove Giant Pumpkin & Harvest Festival with another one of his gargantuan specimens, which weighed in at 1,874.5 pounds.
Prior to this year, the largest pumpkin ever entered in the history of Uesugi Farms’ competition tipped the scales at 1,647 pounds and was grown by John Hawkley, who took first place in 2012.
For the past eight years, Uesugi Farms has been a certified weigh-off site for the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth, the sanctioning body that oversees competitions in giant pumpkin growing. All in all, there are four GPC-certified weigh-off locations in California and more than 90 in the entire world, according to their website.
Ron Root served as Uesugi’s GPC judge, checking for any rotting or holes in the pumpkins that could lead to disqualification. Root participated at the competition last year, placing third with his 1,520-pound pumpkin.
“I started growing giant pumpkins in 2004,” he said. “With all of the other growers that I’ve come across, I’ve never met one that I didn’t like. We’re a group of good people who just love to grow giant pumpkins and learn from one another.”
Pumpkin sizes are swelling every year. The world record for heaviest pumpkin has been broken annually since 1998, when the largest pumpkin measured in at 1,092 pounds, according to GiantPumpkin.com.
Root says one scientist he spoke with recently projected that giant pumpkins will eventually max out at 7,000 pounds – nearly three-and-a-half times the size of Mathison’s one-ton giant.
Upon breaking the world record, a beaming Mathison was joyously hoisted above the crowd and onto the shoulders of some friends. His proud wife and sons stood close by, cheering.
“We really learn a lot from each other,” Mathison said, giving kudos to his fellow pumpkin producers. “New York Botanical Garden, here I come!”
On Monday, Mathison’s prized pumpkin was shipped to New York City to make an appearance on the “LIVE with Kelly and Michael” show. His world record-setter will be displayed in the New York Botanical Garden’s Haunted Pumpkin Garden exhibition through Halloween, along with the second and third largest pumpkins from this year’s GPC sanctioned weigh-offs.
Mathison began growing his prize pumpkin in mid-May, along with three others that he pollinated. While one pumpkin didn’t survive, the other three did – and then some. Mathison gives most of the credit to genetics, also pointing out this year’s weather was great for giant pumpkin growing.
Aside from that, there’s really no magic formula – although Mathison did outline three fundamental necessities.
“It definitely takes a lot of time, energy and money,” he said.
According to the GPC website, Mathison currently holds three of the top four places in the world for heaviest pumpkins at 2013 certified weigh-off events.
“They seem to be able to grow the biggest pumpkins in the U.S.,” said Aiello of the giant pumpkin zealots putting Napa on the map for something other than grapes. “Lately I don’t know what these guys are doing in Napa Valley but they’re growing some big pumpkins.”
That includes last year’s reigning second place champs, Pete and Cindi Glasier from Napa. The pair kept a strong foothold in the No. 2 spot and walked away with a respectable $2,500 for their 1,784-pounder.
“I’ve found that the harder you work, the luckier you get,” said Pete, addressing the crowd.
In addition to drawing pumpkin-loving crowds by the thousands each year to its popular pumpkin park, Uesugi Farms’ annual Pumpkin Weigh-Off also has a philanthropic element. Organizers donate $1; 50 cents; and 25 cents per every pound of the first, second and third-place pumpkins to the Michael Aiello Memorial Agricultural Scholarship Fund.
Established six years ago in memory of Joe Aiello’s son Michael, who in 2007 at the age of 28 died in an airplane crash in Los Banos, the scholarship fund is doled annually to a local student pursuing an education and career in agriculture.
“We wanted to do something positive out of [Michael’s] death,” Aiello said.
This year, a $20,000 scholarship was split between two brothers from Hollister, Brian and Russel Tobias.
The goal is to eventually beef the scholarship fund up to the point where Uesugi can send a student to college for four years.
“Our pumpkin weigh-off event has really evolved and grown over the years,” Aiello said. “We really appreciate all the turnout. We put a lot of work into it to make it an experience for a family.”
