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Too Much Rain Keeps Giant Pumpkins Smaller

September 01, 2009 - WINDSOR -- Edwin Pierpont's 827-pound monster of a pumpkin – just 17 pounds shy of the Windsor Fair record – was the biggest fruit to be found on the fairgrounds Sunday.

But the Jefferson man and his fiancee, Bobbie Young, have bigger plans for the giant pumpkin, beyond taking top honors in the fair's annual Giant Pumpkin and Squash Contest.

Like serving cold beer at their wedding in October.

"We're going to cut the top off, put some ice inside, and put a keg in it," Pierpont said of the couple's plans to use the giant pumpkin as a decorative beer cooler for their wedding reception.

Young said they'll also decorate tables at the reception with smaller pumpkins.

Pierpont said this year's rain made for a challenging growing season for giant pumpkins. He knows what it takes, too. He's got two other giants growing at home, but they've both cracked, so he doesn't think he'll be able to enter them in any contests.

Last year he grew an 1,129-pound pumpkin that won the state title at the Cumberland County Fair.

It fell a heartbreaking 1-pound shy of the state record of 1,130 pounds.

"I kept asking myself, 'What else could I have done to get that extra pound?' " Pierpont said. "All it would have taken was about 15 more minutes of good sunshine. When it's really growing, it'll add 30 pounds a day."

The contest kicked off the first day of the 120th Windsor Fair, which continues this week through Labor Day.

So how do you grow a giant pumpkin?

"You take care of it," said 6-year-old Justice Pierpont, who with his 5-year-old sister, Paris, also grew pumpkins – smaller pumpkins – this year. "You've got to pull weeds and water it, and bury the vines every day. And take off all the other pumpkins."

Last year, Paris grew a 325-pounder. This year, her pumpkin was much smaller because of the wet weather.

Fair workers used a skid-steer forklift to unload the pumpkins and squash from trucks. The backs of the trucks visibly raised up as the weight of the giant fruit was lifted out of them.

Al Berard of Sanford brought both a giant pumpkin and giant squash.

His green squash was the largest squash there, at 286 pounds.

He also grew a bright orange, 453-pound pumpkin.

"That's three years in a row I've grown that same seed, I like the color," Berard said.

It is the 10th year of the fair's pumpkin and squash contest, according to organizer Ron Bechard.

Breaking the fair record would net the grower $500.

The fairgrounds slowly but surely came to life Sunday, which is Get Acquainted Day at the fair.

The smells of fried dough, roasting corn and boiling syrup from the sugarhouse wafted across the wet but sunny fairgrounds as workers prepared to start the midway's rides and games.

By KEITH EDWARDS, Kennebec Journal August 31, 2009


Lakes:
Regions: Belgrade, Bangor


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