Received this photo via email from Bill Orchard. He has been very kind to stay in touch with us since moving from Denver to keep us updated on the Festival of Scarecrows pumpkin weigh-off. It all started with an idea of growing the biggest pumpkin in the neighborhood to be used as a jack-o-lantern. It turned into what some have called an obsession (I prefer passion).
We had moved into a new house and I put in a garden and when at the garden center I decided to grab a Prize Winner variety pumpkin plant. Typically they won't get bigger than about 150 pounds, so it wasn't the ideal choice, but I didn't know better at the time.
At the end of the season I had what I thought was a pretty big pumpkin. So I decided to find a local weigh-off that I could take my pumpkin to. To my surprise, I ended up with 1st prize at 141.5 pounds. One pound heavier than the 2nd place winner.
It was fun and I wanted to learn more. That winter I read up and got some Atlantic Giant pumpkin seeds from Howard Dill, the inventor or the seed. That next year my pumpkin weighed in at 755 pounds and the rest is history.
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