Bring it on Burly, Beefy Behemoths! Half Moon Bay’s 43rd Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off is Monday, October 10

The excitement is building in Pumpkintown as the World’s Greatest Gourd Growers and their astounding, mind-boggling, Volkswagen-sized orange orbs hope to squash the world record on Monday, October 10 at the 43rd Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off –– the “Super Bowl of Weigh-Offs” –– in the World Pumpkin Capital of Half Moon Bay, California.

For up-to-the-minute news, in-depth information, photos and video from the Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival and Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off media relations office, visit these sites:

YOU TUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ltf-UTmgDRs

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*THE GRAND CHAMPION PUMPKIN (AND FIVE HEAVIEST OVERALL) WILL BE PART OF A SPECIAL DISPLAY AT THE HALF MOON BAY ART & PUMPKIN FESTIVAL, SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15-16, 2016 FROM 9 A.M. TO 5 P.M. FESTIVALGOERS CAN GET THEIR PHOTO TAKEN ALONGSIDE THE GRAND CHAMPION GOURD FOR $15 TO BENEFIT THE CABRILLO EDUCATION FOUNDATION. FARMER MIKE, EXPERT CARVER, WILL BE SELECTING ONE OF THE MONSTER PUMPKINS TO CARVE AND SCULPT INTO A ONE-OF-A-KIND MASTERPIECE –– TRULY A SIGHT TO BEHOLD, DURING THE FESTIVAL.

•This year is Half Moon Bay’s 43rd Annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off.

•WORLD RECORD PRIZE: The Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off is offering $30,000 in total prize money for a new world record set at the prestigious Half Moon Bay event. To receive the $30,000 mega-prize, the grower must break and hold the world record at the conclusion of the Half Moon Bay weigh-off. If two or more growers happen to break the world record at Half Moon Bay, the prize money would go to the grower of the heaviest pumpkin. The current world record is 2,323-pounds set by Swiss grower Beni Meier in October 2014 at a weigh-off in Germany. Here's how the $30,000 breaks down: the winner receives $6 per pound plus plus the difference to get to $30,000.

•TOP PRIZE MONEY: 1st place prize money will be awarded in a “pay-by-the-pound” system with the champion receiving a hefty $6 per pound.

•PRIZE MONEY:

1st –– $6 per pound, 2nd –– $2,000, 3rd –– $1,500, 4th –– $1,000, 5th –– 10th –– $500 each, 11th –– 20th –– $100 each

•SPECIAL PRIZES:

•$1,000 for the biggest pumpkin from California

•$500 for the biggest pumpkin from the Coastside (Montara to Pescadero)

•$500 for the most beautiful pumpkin, judged by the audience (color, shape and size)

•GPC AFFILIATION: Half Moon Bay will serve as an officially sanctioned Great Pumpkin Commonwealth (GPC) site. The GPC is the major sanctioning body overseeing Giant Pumpkin growing competitions with more than seventy weigh-off locations throughout the world. “Our relationship with the GPC gives pumpkin growers added incentive to bring their biggest to Half Moon Bay and puts us in the mix for a potential world record,” said Cameron Palmer of the Half Moon Bay weigh-off. “Giant pumpkin growers bring extraordinary dedication and enthusiasm to their craft and we’re delighted to support and be part of their organization,” said Palmer.

•The first weigh-off was held in 1974 when officials from the City of Half Moon Bay including then-Mayor Melvin Mello challenged Circleville, Ohio, which then proclaimed itself “Pumpkin Capital of the World", to a weigh-off competition to determine the world's biggest pumpkin.

•John Minaidis of Half Moon Bay won the first weigh-off with a 132-pound pumpkin.

•Prize money for the Weigh-Off is underwritten by Safeway Food & Drug.

•Keys to growing giant pumpkins: superior seed lineage (from a previous giant), rich soil –– prepare using compost, treat with fertilizer (about every other day), water (keep moist, not too dry or too soggy), mild (not extreme) temperatures (preferably around 90 daytime and 60 at night), long days with plenty of sunlight (but not direct sunlight), bury vine in the soil to promote rooting, and lots of time in the pumpkin patch “TLC" (most of the growers add to the lore with their own secrets).

•Every Columbus Day, some fifty (50) accomplished, veteran growers from Washington, Oregon, California and points east gather for the Half Moon Bay weigh-off to swap seeds, secrets and tips, hoping to capture the coveted title and the cash and notoriety that go along with it.

•Seeds are planted in the spring (late April-early May for most growers). Seeds from a giant pumpkin are about the size of a peach pit.

•Giant pumpkins can gain as much as 50 pounds a day in peak growing season.

•Once they're cut from the vine, big pumpkins lose an average weight of 10 pounds a day.

•Seed varietal used to grow most giant pumpkins: Atlantic Giant

•The official weighing will be conducted by the San Mateo County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office of Weights and Measures, using a 5-ton capacity digital scale.

•Every fall, thousands of Bay Area residents visit the coastside to pick pumpkins from the rolling fields of orange along State Highways 1 and 92.

•Depending on conditions, anywhere from 2,000-4,000 tons of pumpkins are grown annually by about a dozen commercial growers in the Half Moon Bay area. They ship pumpkins all over the United States and sell to many of the large retailers in the Bay Area. As always, there is a bumper crop this year.

•The pumpkin boom can be traced back to growers in the area who began to plant pumpkins in the 1930's. In the early 30’s, teenager John Arata and his brother Clarence began planting pumpkin seeds to to feed the family’s hogs. One day, they were hauling some of their pumpkins along Highway One back to the farm when a passing motorist stopped and asked if he could buy a few. The Arata’s sold the pumpkins for a quarter and a booming pumpkin-picking business and tourist attraction was born.