Pumpkin producers compete for cash and bragging rights

KAN staff report

Which is the greatest pumpkin of all? That question will be answered Saturday at the third annual Kentucky Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off at Bear Wallow Farm in Pulaski County.

Larry Burton of Nancy will defend his title in last year's event when he submitted a pumpkin that weighed a state record 1,216.5 pounds. Another strong competitor may be John Van Hook of Somerset, who took top honors at the Indiana State Fair last month with a pumpkin that weighed 1,145 pounds.

Pumpkin competitors will vie for a total of $2,150 in prizes. The watermelon class will offer $600 in prize money.

Kentucky Department of Agriculture inspectors will test the scales that will be used to weigh the prodigious pumpkins.

Weighing will begin at noon EDT. Pumpkins will be unloaded from 8:30-11 a.m.

The weigh off is sponsored by the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth, the official record-keeping body of pumpkin weight statistics. The world record is 1,689 pounds.

Bear Wallow Farm is an agritourism destination featuring the “punkin chucker,” a homemade air cannon that shoots pumpkins into the air. Bear Wallow also offers a pumpkin patch where visitors can pick out their own Halloween pumpkins, a hayride, a four-acre corn maze, gemstone mining and farm animals.