October 31, 2006 Charlie Brown searched for it in 1966 (and every Halloween after that), Ichabod Crane was haunted by it in Sleepy Hollow, and grandmothers the world over have perfected it in pie form. For today’s championship pumpkin farmers, however, pumpkins are more than a seasonal stoop decoration, they are a full-time job.

“There’s just this fascination with pumpkins,” Bob Matthews, creator of pumpkinnook.com, told Outside Online, “There’s so much you can do with them, and they are so tied to the holidays, it is easy to get hooked.”

Ray Waterman, two-time Pumpkin Growing Champion, as well as founder and president of the World Pumpkin Confederation (WPC), one of the only ruling bodies for pumpkin growing contests, refers to the pastime as a “sport-hobby” and said that a newspaper in Japan even places newsworthy pumpkin updates in the sports section.

“We have contest sites all over the world,” he told Outside Online, “we even have a few sites in Australia and New Zealand.”

Contests for the northern hemisphere are held around the first of October, while weigh-ins for the southern hemisphere occur around April 1. Waterman said that the U.S. and Canada are primarily the top contenders for the championship. This year was no exception.

Rhode Islander Ron Wallace took home this year’s pumpkin-growing title with his 1,502-pound pumpkin, setting a new world record. After accepting the honor at the Rhode Island Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Championship on October 7th, Wallace told the Associated Press (AP), “Pumpkin growing is a lot of work and you just have to stick with it.”

This year’s growing weather was particularly detrimental to the harvest of giant pumpkins. Heavy rains may have contributed to rotting and delayed planting, the AP reported.

“Winning the championship is a tremendous honor,” Matthews told Outside Online, “and the size of the prize check varies by location, but can be in the range of $5,000 to $10,000.”

Each year, the championship pumpkin weight grows by leaps and bounds, this year’s winner beating the 2005 champion by over 70 pounds.

“It’s a teaching thing,” Waterman said of the rising records, “we teach each other new techniques, and we have some darn good growers involved.”

And, somewhat surprisingly, Waterman said that academic input has had little impact on growing methods, and no gene therapy has been implemented.

Wanna-be champion growers primarily plant a specific seed variety called an Atlantic Giant, but planting the seed is only the beginning.

“From the minute you grow the seed to when you harvest the fruit, there are a number of crucial moments,” said Matthews.

Daily monitoring, climate control, and all around the clock TLC are essential for harvesting a winner.

“Growing a championship pumpkin can be a full-time job,” said Matthews, “you end up spending a lot of time out in the patch.”

Harsh weather, ground conditions, and even vandalism can bring months of hard work and hopes of a record-breaking growth to an unexpected end. To be safe, some growers cultivate multiple seeds, hoping that one will survive, but surprisingly, the final results are not up to Mother Nature alone.

“There is some mischief,” Waterman said, “sometimes on purpose or just kids messing around. Having your hard work destroyed would be devastating.”

And believe it or not, even if your pumpkin does survive a year in the patch—and a bumpy ride in a truck bed to the competition—mischief even abounds at the competition.

“In 1986, a competitor filled their pumpkin full of water to add weight,” Waterman said, “and some have even attempted to shoot their pumpkins [full of] lead.”

Waterman and Matthews both agree that the sport-hobby of pumpkin growing has a relatively fraudulent-free history, but as Matthews said, “There are always those bad apples…or I guess you could say bad pumpkins!”

But what happens to a world champion pumpkin post-crowning? Sent the slaughterhouse? Baked into platters of pies? Or worse yet, hurled into the trash and forgotten forever? Well fear not. This year’s big winner earned a trip to the big apple. Ron Wallace’s 2006 champion pumpkin is now on display in New York’s Grand Central Station.

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