An Anoka man has set a record for the heaviest pumpkin ever grown in North America, but his 2,560-pound gourd almost didn't make it to the scale.
Anoka man's 2,560-pound pumpkin sets North American record
Travis Gienger won more than $20,000 in a California competition.
October 11, 2022 at 6:12PM
Travis Gienger, a horticulture teacher who has been growing large pumpkins for 28 years, was on pins and needles Monday as officials with the 2022 Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off weighed his rhinoceros-size gourd. The pumpkin had already survived a mid-growing season accident and nearly fallen to the ground as Gienger loaded it onto the trailer he used to cart it 35 hours from Minnesota to California.
"It was like slow motion," Gienger said as he recalled watching as the numbers register on the scale. "My brain was not processing anything at the time. Then it was, 'Oh, I won.'"
With his wife, Megan, 15-month-old daughter, Lily, and other family members at his side, Gienger slipped on the black Carhartt jacket featuring the festival's logo, which goes to the winner of the nearly half-century-old competition. Gienger, who won the event two years ago with a pumpkin a few hundred pounds lighter, also collected $23,040 in prize money.
"The fact it was done in Minnesota makes it that much harder," he said, noting the field had entries from Oregon, California and Washington — states with much more favorable pumpkin-growing climates.
The road to Gienger's first-place showing started April 10, when he planted an 1885 Werner seed about the size of a quarter. Two months later, Gienger accidentally spilled five gallons of dirt on top of the gourd. It appeared his California dreams were dashed.
"It shredded it," Gienger said. "It crashed and burned. Nobody thought it would grow."
Lots of tender loving care in the form of 200 gallons of water and 12 to 14 applications of fertilizer a day brought it to life. Scars from the accident healed over, a critical development to meet the strict contest rules.
"You can't have a pinhole or crack, or it's disqualified," Gienger said.
The recovery led Gienger to name his pumpkin Maverick, and during June and July the gourd grew about 4 inches in diameter a day and put on 1,470 pounds. By early September, Gienger knew he was sitting on something special.
"I thought, 'We have a shot at the Guinness World Record,'" he said. A grower in Italy holds the world record for the heaviest pumpkin, a 2,702-pounder in 2021. "We really have to get it out there."
Calamity nearly struck again when Gienger was lifting Maverick onto the trailer to make the drive to the event in Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco. The pumpkin slid about 8 inches out of the straps, but landed on a pallet unscathed.
"I never thought I'd see the day where I had to use a 27,000-pound forklift to load a vegetable," he said in a Facebook post and reiterated in an interview.
Gienger was one of 10 contestants, and his pumpkin was the last one weighed. He was a bit nervous when the pumpkin of the contestant before him tipped the scale at 2,424 pounds.
"I expected to have a pretty good shot, but somebody could bring one with different genetics," he said. "It was definitely nerve-wracking. It was meant to be."
But the real craziness started right after his victory, Gienger said. TV shows began calling for interviews and folks from Guinness called to set up time to do a video of the country's largest jack-o'-lantern ever.
Gienger said he hopes to show Maverick off in Anoka when the "Halloween Capital of the World" marks the holiday later this month.
"We are working on those logistics," he said.
As for growing more big vegetables, Gienger said he's contemplating retirement, "but my wife wants me to keep going."
The pilot was the only person inside the plane, and was not injured in the emergency landing, according to the State Patrol.
