It was a small miracle Jamie was able to take his pumpkin Ricky (named in honor of Ricky Gervais) to the Jared’s Nursery weigh-off after he discovered a crack a few weeks prior. For weeks, he caulked it and though he was not able to officially enter his pumpkin, Ricky made it to the weigh-off.
And he was the prettiest pumpkin there.
Yes, I just referred to an inanimate object as a “he.”
The kids and I always have a blast getting spooked in the Ghoul Galleria, jumping in the bouncy castle, playing in the maze, doing face-painting, balloon animals and marveling at the over-sized gourds.
Yep, that’s a pear behind Bode.
This year, the kids’ pumpkin was a lot smaller so we had low expectations. In fact, Jamie wasn’t the only grower who had a rough year–most of them lost at least one of their pumpkins. Denver had a really wet spring and a super hot August, resulting in a lot of pumpkins rotting out. There were no records and a lot of grown men inwardly crying.
It wasn’t pretty.
The kids won the children’s competition with their 146.5-pound pumpkin. Their father couldn’t have been more proud. Their mother, on the other hand, was mortified when another child took their pumpkin to the scale and Bode joked, “That’s too little!”
Once again, they won the blue ribbon and…(wait for it)….a bag of fertilizer.
I informed Jamie I’m overseeing the prizes for the children’s competition next year.
As for Jamie? He was shocked and delighted with his result: his heaviest pumpkin ever!
The scale says 926 pounds but it was actually 924.5 pounds. Cheater had his hand on the pumpkin.
That’s sure a heavy hand.
There was only one pumpkin that was larger at the weigh-off and that grower was from Wyoming. Jamie had the biggest pumpkin in Colorado that day and Ricky would have assuredly been over 1,000 pounds if it hadn’t cracked. Jamie’s goal is to break 1,000 pounds so that means we’re in it for at least another year.
Who am I kidding? He’s in it for life.
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. 