Napa Grower Takes Prize for Heaviest Pumpkin, Breaks North American Record

A Napa pumpkin grower has won this year’s Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-off with a massive gourd weighing in at 2,058 pounds, according to event organizers.

John Hawkley is walking away from Monday’s weigh-off with more than $13,000 in prizes after entering the giant pumpkin, which shattered the record for North America’s heaviest gourd but fell short of the world record by just 44 pounds.

The unnamed pumpkin outweighed the second-place winner from Walnut Grove grower Rob Globus by 318 pounds and the third-place winner from fellow Napa grower Gary Miller by 665 pounds, according to event spokesman Tim Beeman.

[Previous: That’s One BIG Pumpkin! Napa Man Sets New Record at Half Moon Bay Weigh-Off.]

“My feet aren’t touching the ground,” a stunned Hawkley said a short time after winning the weigh-off, which organizers said drew hundreds of people to downtown Half Moon Bay this morning.

Hawkley, a production manager at the Napa Valley Register, said he gave up weekends and days off of work to tend to his award-winning pumpkin, which grew alongside five other enormous gourds in his patch this year.

While the Register’s printing press and offices were heavily damaged in the 6.0-magnitude earthquake that shook Napa in August, Hawkley’s pumpkins were left untouched by the temblor, he said.

“We were worried about them bouncing around but after the earthquake we could see the vines were still attached to the pumpkins,” he said, noting that soft spots or holes can disqualify a grower from the weigh-off competition.

A soft spot disqualified Santa Rosa-area grower Russ Pugh’s 1,828-pound behemoth this morning, according to Beeman. Pugh said before the weigh-off that the pumpkin was the largest he’s ever entered into a competition, despite water restrictions due to this year’s drought.

Event organizers said the drought played a role in this year’s competition, since California growers dealt with water restrictions. In many cases, growers decided to plant fewer pumpkins in order to comply with the restrictions, Beeman said.

This morning’s weigh-off kicked off a week of events culminating in this weekend’s Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival -- a pumpkin-themed celebration that includes a Great Pumpkin parade, pie-eating and costume contests, pumpkin carving and a plethora of gourd-infused food and drink options.

Festival attendees can get an up-close look at Hawkley’s award-winning pumpkin as well as the four next-heaviest pumpkins from the weigh-off, which will all be on display.

A full listing of Pumpkin Festival events can be found at pumpkinfest.miramarevents.com.

--Photo courtesy of Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival -

-Bay City News