Jim Sherwood's pumpkin is measured during the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off at Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Cindy Tobeck, of Olympia, Wash., won the contest with a pumpkin that weighed in at 1,910 pounds.
Republished October 10, 2016 - 5:33 PM
Original Publication Date October 10, 2016 - 11:45 AM
HALF MOON BAY, Calif. - The Latest on the giant pumpkin weigh-off in Northern California (all times local):
1:45 p.m.
An annual pumpkin-weighing contest in Northern California has a new winner: a third-grade teacher in Washington state who raised a giant one weighing 1,910 pounds.
Forty-two-year-old Cindy Tobeck, who lives outside Olympia, Washington, said her pumpkin grew steadily since she planted it in April, spending much of that time in a greenhouse with heated soil. She said the secret to growing giant pumpkins is using the right seed.
Hers came from a 2,230-pound pumpkin that won a different contest last year.
Timothy Beeman, a spokesman for the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, said Tobeck beat out more than two dozen other pumpkins from Oregon, Washington and California. The runner-up weighed 1,723 pounds. Tobeck was shy of the contest record by about 150 pounds.
At $6 a pound, Tobeck will receive nearly $11,500 in prize money.
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11:35 a.m.
The great pumpkin weigh off is in full swing.
Farmers are in the process of having their giant pumpkins hoisted onto the scales and weighed in hopes of winning the 43rd annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, California.
KNTV reports (http://bit.ly/2d7OAEP) Farmer Cindy Tobeck, of Little Rock, Washington, says she's hoping to break a Washington state record this year with her pumpkin, which she hopes is more than 1,900 pounds.
Last year, Oregon farmer Steve Daletas won the 42nd Half Moon Bay pumpkin weigh-off, when his pumpkin came in at 1,969 pounds.
On Sunday, the Giant Pumpkin European Championship was held in Ludwigsburg, Germany, and a pumpkin weighing about 2,623 pounds took home the award for the heaviest. Anyone who breaks that record Monday in Half Moon Bay will win a special $30,000 mega prize
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6:50 a.m.
California farmers are hoping to set records with their gargantuan plants this year at the annual pumpkin weigh-off in Half Moon Bay.
KNTV-TV reports (http://bit.ly/2dFVfsK ) that measurements are set to begin Monday morning for the 43rd annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off.
Last year, Oregon farmer Steve Daletas won the 42nd Half Moon Bay pumpkin weigh-off, when his pumpkin came in at 1,969 pounds.
Farmer Cindy Tobeck, of Little Rock, Washington, says she's hoping to break a Washington state record this year with her pumpkin, which she hopes is over 1,900 pounds.
The world record for largest pumpkin is 2,323 pounds. The record was set in October 2014 by Swiss grower Beni Meier at a weigh-off in Germany. Anyone who breaks that record will win a special $30,000 mega prize.
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Information from: KNTV-TV.
News from © The Associated Press, 2016