Yep, 837 pounds! (Check-out Jamie’s blog denverpumpkins.com for specs).
Though last year’s pumpkin weighed almost 100 pounds more, Jamie was pleased with the result. Growers have enormous tape measures and based on the measurements, Jamie’s pumpkin should have weighed about 770 pounds but it went 9 percent heavy.
Look at me with my pumpkin-geek speak. Impressed?
Though there were a few pumpkins with larger circumferences, Jamie passed them to place a surprising fourth.
The kiddos also placed fourth in a somewhat contested children’s division. More on that later (and how Haddie smack-talked the mohawk kid) but they were pleased with their 203-pounder.
When we first arrived, I had a nice woman come up to me who recognized me from my Denver Post articles about Jamie’s pumpkin obsession.
Still trying to figure out if that was a good thing?
And Jamie, of course, is a local celebrity with references to our NBC Marriage Ref appearance being thrown around. Beauty queen Mrs. Littleton even made a celebrity appearance!
Umm, OK.
While Jamie was busy doing his pumpkin business, the kiddos and I delved into the activities at Jared’s Giant Pumpkin Weigh-off and Festival that included a bouncy castle, face painting and balloon animals.
A maze….
Water balloon sling shots,
And, of course, an obscene amount of oversized pumpkins and vegetables.
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| Cool pear! |
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| 1st place pumpkin |
Jamie’s buddy Joe Scherber took first place with a pumpkin that was taping out to more than 1,400 pounds–a new Colorado record. Sadly, it went really light and *only* weighed 1,225 pounds.
Something that made me chuckle: Pumpkins allegedly lose several pounds of weight after they are cut from the vine so many growers wrap bags of water around the stem to help maintain their moisture. Scherber took it a step further and if you look closely at the pumpkin, you can see bags with yellow liquid. The contents? Gatorade.
Who knew pumpkins were athletes?
Following the day’s festivities, Jamie took us out for a celebratory dinner on the deck of Blue Canyon Grill in Golden.
But the true highlight for us all? Driving the streets with an 837-pound pumpkin in tow. People were hooping and hollering at us, delighted to catch a glimpse of such an anomaly. As we waved back at everyone, I marveled at our quirky family where oversized gourds and crazy trips are the norm.
And I couldn’t have been more grateful.
Next time: the smack-talkin’ in the children’s division weigh-off. Oh, the controversy.
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 