Giant pumpkins will take over Ballard Park tomorrow, Sunday, September 25! Ridgefield photog Jessica Collins and Ridgefield pumpkin grower Steve Maydan are co-chairs of this tremendously orange and fascinating event. The Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off duo give our readers a peek into this awe-inspiring community event.
Tell me about how (and when) you took interest in the giant pumpkin.
Jessica: I have always loved autumn including Halloween, but really everything about autumn…. falling leaves, cups of hot coffee, sweaters, pumpkins, apple pie. It’s my favorite time of the year. My family and I moved to Ridgefield in October (many years ago). On our first day in the house, I looked out the window and saw a giant pumpkin in my neighbor, Steve’s yard. I felt like Linus looking at the Great Pumpkin. It was incredible. As a photographer, I knew I had to photograph these giants grow and I started photographing Steve’s pumpkins from seed to scale. It’s amazing to see a giant pumpkin grow.
In many cases, the pumpkins weigh close to one ton! How do the pumpkin growers get their pumpkins to Ridgefield?
Steve: The harvesting of the giant pumpkin and getting it onto the travel vehicle is one of the most stressful events of the entire growing season for the growers. They use forklifts, skid steers, backhoes, tall tripod devices with mechanical or electric hoists to lift the pumpkin out of the patch. The pumpkins are loaded onto a wooden pallet and lifted into pickup trucks, dump trucks, cars/trucks with trailers. The parade of these vehicles with their giant fruits loaded into Ballard Park on the morning of the weigh-off is a sight to see.
Jessica: Steve is the expert on the mechanics of how to move the pumpkins. I just show up when he is ready to move them and follow instructions. When they arrive in Ballard Park they are lifted off the truck using a forklift provided by Ridgefield Supply. It takes a village to get a pumpkin out of the patch and to the scale.
Where do they travel from? Any stories?
Steve: Growers travel 2-3 hours or more from every direction to get to Ridgefield. We’ve had attendees from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, upstate New York, and Pennsylvania.
One grower lives on Prudence Island, Rhode Island. Once he has the pumpkin loaded onto his trailer, he and his wife take a ferry to the mainland and then finish the trek to Ridgefield. Another grower and his wife and son traveled from beyond Syracuse, New York and actually had to camp out part of the way down to avoid driving through the night. They all make it to the park in advance of the weigh-off with fruits intact.
Jessica: The grower from Prudence Island exemplifies the determination of a giant pumpkin grower to get his pumpkin to the scale. One year, when he arrived in Ballard Park he told me they were getting a new ferry. It wasn’t supposed to be start running until after the weigh off but he made plans in advance with a barge to get his pumpkin to the main land in time to bring it to our event.
The Weigh Off features a Youth Category for “younger” pumpkin growers. Tell me about that.
Steve: We introduced this category two years ago in an effort to encourage new and younger growers to try to grow a big one. Our first year, we had a Connecticut teenage girl win top prize with her 917 pound pumpkin. Some local younger growers from the 4H club tried to grow a giant pumpkin. They started seeds from a local giant pumpkin grower and got plants started. They had fruit set but never got a pumpkin to the weigh-off. Ridgefield High School Gardening club also tried to grow the giants a few times. They actually brought one to the weigh-off but it was before we had the youth category.
Jessica: The weigh off is the ultimate pumpkin day. Obviously, it is about the biggest pumpkins, the most orange perfect pumpkin (for the Howard Dill award), but there is more to the day. We want our visitors to have a great day in Ridgefield. We have incredible food vendors including O’Deen’s BBQ, Zwack Shack, Natural Scoop, and Donut Crazy donut truck. There will be music, vendors, farm stands, pumpkin carving dwarf goats you can pet. This year we added a pumpkin decoration contest where children can decorate a pumpkin at home and bring it to the weigh off (visitors will get to vote for the winners). It’s a great day in the park and there’s just something magical about seeing giant pumpkins.
Do you think a one-ton pumpkin will ever be grown or weighed in Ridgefield?
Steve: Absolutely and this might be the year. In 2015, there were several growers in New England who had near 2000 pound pumpkins. One had the North American record of 2,230 pounds. He attends our weigh-off every year as do several of the others. We hope that the first prize of $3000 might attract that 2,000-pound pumpkin to Ridgefield this year.
What is the Connecticut State Record for a Giant Pumpkin and will that record ever be broken?
The CT state record is 1,992.5 pounds and was set last year by a grower from Plainfield, Ct. The pumpkin has to be grown in Connecticut. The Ridgefield weigh-off is offering a $500 bonus for a new Ct. state record if the pumpkin is weighed in Ridgefield. This bonus award is named after Nick Huydic who was a very active member of the Ct. Giant Pumpkin Growers Club and won first place in Ridgefield in 2013 and 2014. Nick passed away in early 2015.
The Connecticut Giant Pumpkin Growers Club is listed as a title sponsor of the weigh-off event. What is the CTGPGC?
The club is a group of giant pumpkin growers who are passionate for the hobby. The club runs the weigh-off. Members share their growing experiences, hardships, and successes. Even though most of them are competitors, they are more than willing to help another grower with a problem they are having or get a new grower started in the hobby. The club raises money for the weigh-off through winter seed auctions and seed sales.
Keep up to date on the Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off details on The Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off Facebook HERE and make sure to clear your calendar and head to the Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off at Ballard Park on September 25 from 10am to 3:00 pm.