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50th Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off (Half Moon Bay)

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Monday, October 9, 2023 - 7:00 am to 12:00 pm | Cost: FREE
IDES Grounds | 735 Main Street, Half Moon Bay

Event Details

Submitted by the Event Organizer

No weigh. Weigh!!! Bring it on burly, beefy, bodacious behemoths!
The excitement is building in Pumpkintown as the World’s Greatest Gourd Growers and their titanic, mind-blowing, Volkswagen-sized orange orbs hope to squash the world record on Monday, October 9th at the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off –– the “Super Bowl of Weigh-Offs” –– in the World Pumpkin Capital of Half Moon Bay, California and this year organizers, in association with title sponsor Safeway, will celebrate the world’s greatest gourd growers with the world’s biggest prize money pool.
Using a pay-by-the-pound system, the ginormous top prize of $9/pound will be awarded to the 2023 weigh-off champion.
Also at stake are thousands of dollars in super hefty prize money doled out to the top 20 plus the big carrot: a $30,000 total mega-prize for a new world record pumpkin entered at Half Moon Bay (the current world record is 2,703-pounds set at a 2021 weigh-off in Italy).
The weighing of pumpkins will begin around 7am and anticipate ending the weighing around 11am followed by the awards presentation and luncheon.
Defending Half Moon Bay champion Travis Gienger took home the top prize with his Rhinoceros-sized 2,350-pound mega-gourd that set a new North American record and obliterated a formidable field of heavyweight contenders in winning the 2022 Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off.
A host of accomplished veteran growers are expected to contend for the coveted title. The champion will be feted and play a starring role in the world-famous Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival, Oct. 14-15 (including a free weekend at the posh, pumpkin-centric Ritz-Carlton on the stunningly beautiful Half Moon Bay coast).
Beauty will share center stage with beefy brawn — a special $1,000 prize will be awarded to the “Joe Cotchett Family Most Beautiful Pumpkin”.
Additional special bonus prizes include: Biggest California Pumpkin — $1,000; Biggest Coastside Pumpkin — $1,000.
Using forklifts and special harnesses, the gargantuan gourds will be carefully placed on a 5-ton capacity, industrial-strength digital scale under the watchful eye of officials from the San Mateo County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office of Weights, Sealers, and Measures.
Half Moon Bay’s Weigh-Off will serve as an officially sanctioned Great Pumpkin Commonwealth (GPC) site.
WEIGH-OFF LOCATION:
IDES Grounds, 735 Main Street, Half Moon Bay CA.

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.


Cost: FREE
Categories: *Top Pick*, In Person, Other
Venue: IDES Grounds
Address: 735 Main Street, Half Moon Bay