Safeway World Championship Gargantuan Gourds (Pumpkins) Weigh-Off

This year is Half Moon Bay’s 48th Annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off. 1st place prize money has been increased to $9/pound, plus the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off is offering a special $30,000 mega-prize for the world record breaking pumpkin at the prestigious Half Moon Bay event.

Wow! An Even Heftier World’s Biggest Prize of $9/Pound + $30k World Record Prize Headline

Half Moon Bay’s 48th Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off

Half Moon Bay’s 48th Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off returns Monday, October 11 and this year organizers, in association with Safeway, are upping the ante big time to celebrate the world’s greatest gourd growers and hopeful revival of live events.

The world’s biggest top prize has been increased to $9/pound (from $7/pound) for the 2021 weigh-off champion plus there’s the standing $30k total prize package for a new world record so bring it on burly behemoths!

World’s Biggest Top Prize – $9/Pound

1st place prize money will be awarded in a “pay-by-the-pound” system with the champion receiving a hefty $9 per pound.

World Record Mega-Prize

The Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off is offering a special $30,000 mega-prize for the world record breaking pumpkin at the prestigious Half Moon Bay event. To receive the $30,000 mega-prize, the grower must break and hold the world record at the conclusion of the Half Moon Bay weigh-off. If two or more growers happen to break the world record at Half Moon Bay, the prize money would go to the grower of the heaviest pumpkin. The current world record pumpkin is 2,624 pounds set on October 9, 2016 by Mathias Willemijns of Belgium at the Giant Pumpkin European Championship in Ludwigsburg, Germany. Here’s how the $30,000 breaks down: the winner receives $9 per pound plus a $10,000 bonus mega prize for a new world record plus the difference to get to $30,000.

Top Prize Money

1st place prize money will be awarded in a “pay-by-the-pound” system with the champion receiving a hefty $9 per pound.

Prize Money

1st Place — $9 per pound
2nd Place — $3,000
3rd Place — $2,500
4th Place — $2,000
5th–10th Place — $1,000 each
11th–20th Place — $200 each

Special Prizes

• World Record Pumpkin — $30,000 (total)
• Biggest California Pumpkin — $1,000
• Biggest Coastside Pumpkin (Montara to Pescadero) — $1,000
• Joe Cotchett Family Most Beautiful Pumpkin — $1,000
• Special GPC plaques and ribbons will also be awarded.

Health and Safety Guidelines

The event will be held in accordance with State, County and City Health and Safety guidelines. Health guidelines strongly recommend that attendees be fully vaccinated. If not fully vaccinated, guidelines strongly recommend that attendees obtain a negative COVID-19 test prior to attending the event and wear a face covering at the event.

GPC Affiliation

Half Moon Bay will serve as an officially sanctioned Great Pumpkin Commonwealth (GPC) site. The GPC is the major sanctioning body overseeing Giant Pumpkin growing competitions with more than seventy weigh-off locations throughout the world. “Our relationship with the GPC gives pumpkin growers added incentive to bring their biggest to Half Moon Bay and puts us in the mix for a potential world record,” said Cameron Palmer of the Half Moon Bay weigh-off. “Giant pumpkin growers bring extraordinary dedication and enthusiasm to their craft and we’re delighted to support and be part of their organization,” said Palmer.

Weigh-Off Notes

Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival mascot “Gourdy” poses with the Half Moon Bay High School Band (above) and Weigh-Off heavyweights awaiting the official scale (below)

• The first weigh-off was held in 1974 when officials from the City of Half Moon Bay including then-Mayor Melvin Mello challenged Circleville, Ohio, which then proclaimed itself “Pumpkin Capital of the World”, to a weigh-off competition to determine the world’s biggest pumpkin.
• John Minaidis of Half Moon Bay won the first weigh-off with a 132-pound pumpkin.
• Prize money for the Weigh-Off is underwritten by Safeway Food & Drug.
• Keys to growing giant pumpkins: superior seed lineage (from a previous giant), rich soil –– prepare using compost, treat with fertilizer (about every other day), profuse amounts of water (keep moist, not too dry or too soggy), mild (not extreme) temperatures (preferably around 90 daytime and 60 at night), long days with plenty of sunlight (but not direct sunlight), bury vine in the soil to promote rooting, and lots of time in the pumpkin patch “TLC” (most of the growers add to the lore with their own secrets).
• Every Columbus Day, about 60-80 accomplished, veteran growers from Washington, Oregon, California and points east gather for the Half Moon Bay weigh-off to swap seeds, secrets and tips, hoping to capture the coveted title and the cash and notoriety that go along with it.
• Seeds are planted in the spring (April for most growers). Seeds from a giant pumpkin are about the size of a peach pit.
• Giant pumpkins can gain as much as 50 pounds a day, on their best day.
• Once they’re cut from the vine, big pumpkins lose an average weight of 6-8 pounds a day.
• Seed varietal used to grow giant pumpkins: Atlantic Giant
• The official weighing will be conducted by the San Mateo County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office of Weights and Measures, using a 5-ton capacity digital scale.
• Every fall, thousands of Bay Area residents visit the coastside to pick pumpkins from the rolling fields of orange along State Highways 1 and 92.
• About 3,500 tons of pumpkins are grown annually by about a dozen commercial growers in the Half Moon Bay area. They ship pumpkins all over the United States and sell to many of the large retailers in the Bay Area. As always, there is a bumper crop this year.
• The pumpkin boom can be traced back to growers in the area who began to plant pumpkins in the 1930’s. In the early 30’s, teenager John Arata and his brother Clarence began planting pumpkin seeds to to feed the family’s hogs. One day, they were hauling some of their pumpkins along Highway One back to the farm when a passing motorist stopped and asked if he could buy a few. The Arata’s sold the pumpkins for a quarter and a booming pumpkin-picking business and tourist attraction was born.
• The current world record pumpkin is 2,624 pounds set on October 9, 2016 by Mathias Willemijns of Belgium at the Giant Pumpkin European Championship in Ludwigsburg, Germany.

Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off Past Champions