Minnesota grower Travis Gienger wins fifth Half Moon Bay pumpkin title
Minnesota grower Travis Gienger won the giant pumpkin weigh-off in Half Moon Bay, California, on Monday, October 12, Agweek and Coastside News reported. His winning pumpkin, named Rocky, weighed 2,389 pounds. It was his fifth title at the event, and he took home $21,501 in prize money.
Travis Gienger, a grower from Anoka, Minnesota, won the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, California, on Monday, Oct. 12, with a 2,389-pound pumpkin named Rocky, Agweek and Coastside News reported. It was his fifth title at the event, which Coastside News reported was the 53rd annual weigh-off.
Gienger took home $21,501 in prize money and a championship ring, Agweek and Coastside News reported. Agweek reported that the top prize pays $9 per pound, and that a world-record pumpkin would have earned the grower $30,000. Coastside News reported that no records fell this year.
J. Leonard of Rocklin, California, placed second with a 2,273-pound pumpkin, and B. Christensen of Rexburg, Idaho, was third at 1,873 pounds, according to official results reported by Agweek. Leonard also won the prize for the biggest pumpkin grown in California, Agweek reported.
Rocky weighed less than its size suggested. Measurements put the pumpkin at 500.5 total inches, pointing to an estimated weight of 2,565 pounds, but the scale read 176 pounds lighter, Agweek reported. "Although not the personal best I had hoped for weight wise, Rocky was still a massive footprint of a pumpkin!" Gienger wrote on Facebook after the weigh-off, according to Agweek. "Championship #5 will always be a memory I will forever cherish!"
The win came a year after Gienger sat out the contest, when a tiny pinhole stopped his best pumpkin from growing at about 1,300 pounds, Agweek reported. He first won at Half Moon Bay in 2020 and won again in 2022, 2023 and 2024, the outlet reported. His 2023 winner, at 2,749 pounds, is still the weigh-off record, Agweek reported.
Local growers also took prizes. Vince Zunino of Los Altos Hills won the Prettiest Pumpkin award with a 294-pound pumpkin named Tinkerbell, and Tom McGuirk's 352-pound pumpkin was the heaviest grown on the Coastside, Coastside News reported.
What we know: Gienger won his fifth Half Moon Bay title on Oct. 12 with a 2,389-pound pumpkin and $21,501 in prize money.
What we don't: Whether he will defend the title next year.
Where outlets agree Agweek and Coastside News both report that Travis Gienger won his fifth Half Moon Bay weigh-off title with a 2,389-pound pumpkin and $21,501 in prize money.
Where they differ The outlets cited here report the same key facts so far.