Clarence, NY Weigh-off Trip Report!

Well, I just got back from the World Pumpkin Confederation
world weigh-off in Clarence, NY.  I'd never been to a
weigh-off before.

I was worried I might not be able to find it, but
like I had been told, you really couldn't miss it...
it was right on Main St., at a huge place called
"The Great Pumpkin Farm".  You could see the
giant 20'+ inflated pumpkin from quite a ways down
the road, plus all the cars, signs, and flagmen.  
There was a huge crowd at this place; and a ton of 
stuff to do for the kids.  There were hay rides,
a corn maze, pony rides, a haunted mansion,
amusement rides, etc.  The only disappointment, or 
rather unpleasant surprise, was the $3 admission... I had 
brought *7* family members along, and was a bit unprepared 
to fork over $21 just for admission to the "farm" so I 
could see the big pumpkins... I had expected only a 
weighoff, not a full blown fall festival.
I didn't have anything to enter (except my 4 lb.
dwarf Harris Seed Atlantic Giant which I left on the 
dashboard as a joke), so I was a spectator (this'll
change next year!).  I don't know if the participants
in the weighoff and their helpers had to pay to get in 
or not.  Next year, it'll be ok because I'll expect it.

We got there about 11:30, and the weighing was well underway; it
finished up around 1 or so.
There were indeed some amazing fruit to see... apparently
not everybody's pumpkins met horrible fates this year; there 
was a whole two rows of true monster curcubits, plus more
arranged around the scale- the majority really nicely formed 
(not too blobby or flat, and nice orange color).  There
was a whole road lined with non-contending 80-100 pounders.
Some of the monsters, including the 755.5 lb. second place entry 
were really, really nicely rounded/shaped (congrats to whoever
grew #2, by the way!); one was like a 4' round ball- it must
have had very strong walls.  There was only a couple huge green/grey 
squash.  There was one creamy colored pumpkin with an amazingly 
indented blossom end, and another giant one that had grown just fine 
blossom end right on top- apparently sitting on the vine the 
whole time, another with a HUGE diameter stem (big as your leg), 
and one guy (sorry, can't remember who) that had a large (500+?) 
pumpkin, which was one of *6* like that grown on the same plant.  
There was one with some varmint-holes in it that had an amazing 
Y-split stem that had dried and healed, apparently without impacting 
the growth.   Somebody brought a perfectly round, smooth, mint green 
"thing" that was bigger than a beach ball.  It had a tiny diameter 
stem- I think perhaps it was a gourd and not a pumpkin, but it was 
very unusual- no ribs or cantelouping at all, just perfectly smooth.
Everyone that had a pumpkin to weigh got few minutes of time 
at the microphone to tell their story and guess what their weight
would be.  Although there was a big, thick crowd, and two
fork-lifts working the event, it was very orderly and polite 
(never pushy)- you could always wriggle through whenever you 
wanted to for a better view, and get as close as you wanted.
Without an entry of my own, it was nice to find that the giant 
pumpkins were easy-going, and would pose with anyone (heh heh
heh, as he sends posed photos off to the distant relatives).  :-)  

"But who won, who won?!"  Ok, Ok... A big pat on the back
goes to Herbert Smith of Charlton, NY, who
weighed in a 762 lb. pumpkin, the largest one there.  I
spoke with him a bit afterwards; a very nice guy.  He 
told me it was self-pollinated, on a plant from a Bobier (sp?) seed,
grown with manure and Miracle-Grow fertilizer (and sweat, I
presume :-) ); nothing exotic.  
He didn't know about this list- I told him about it and gave 
him the WWW address of the pumpkin list/archive; he has a son
with a computer; I'm sure he'll enjoy what he finds there.

There were also some gigantic watermelons on display, some 
big zucchini (?), big turnips, some really huge sunflower heads, 
and amazing 20' (yes, twenty feet) tall sunflower plants.  
The seeds from these tall sunflowers were for sale, plus 
"Gibberillic Acid", which apparently slows the development 
of the flower head, which makes the plant grow up and up (and up);
once the head sets, it stops growing up and puts energy into
the flower (sound familiar?).

Because I did have 7 people in the troupe (wanting to do
7 different things at the wonderful festival there), I wasn't 
able to hang around and meet pumpkin-people; I was the guy in 
the cowboy hat, perhaps you saw me taking pictures.  In summary, 
I had a *great* time, and will be back next year (but hopefully
with a great pumpkin of my own!).  

(...Hope the guy in the red pickup didn't break his springs
with the two giants he had in back.  You should've seen
the truck dip down when the fork lift placed the second
one aboard!)

---
Rick Inzero, Rochester, NY
"Did I see bees? I did."  (read it backwards)
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