A Napa farmer won a Northern California contest with a record-setting 1,806-pound (820-kilogram) pumpkin that judges nicknamed "The Flying Saucer" because of its wide and flat shape.
Grower Tim Mathison was one of about 50 big pumpkin farmers to haul their heaviest crops to the annual weigh-in at the Elk Grove Giant Pumpkin & Harvest Festival, the Sacramento Bee reported Sunday (http://bit.ly/1M3ReKG ).
Most of the pumpkins entered in Saturday's contest were grown in about 90 days, sometimes growing as fast as 30 pounds per day, said Brian Myers, chairman of the California Pumpkin Growers Association. There were about half as many pumpkins entered this year than in previous years, largely due to what farmers said were overly hot and suboptimal growing conditions.
Mathison collected $12,000 in prize money but he says the most important part of Saturday's event was sharing it with his 28-year-old daughter Tara, who uses a wheelchair and has a neurodevelopmental disorder called Rett syndrome. She was with him almost every night as he tended to his patch, he said.
He purchased the unique seed from which he grew the pumpkin from the Make-a-Wish Foundation, a charity that arranges joyful experiences for children with life-threatening conditions.
The winning pumpkin beat last year's monster pumpkin, which weighed in at 1,584 pounds (718 kilograms). But no one came close to beating the current national record for heaviest pumpkin — 2,154 pounds (977 kilograms).
This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.