Its OUt. It's OUT!!!!!!

Record breaking Pumpkinfest draws well over 50,000

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Several records were broken at Pumpkinfest over the weekend, the biggest
being set in the International Weigh-Off competition.
Gary Burke of Simcoe, Ontario set a new site record with a pumpkin that
weighed an astounding 1,092 pounds. That weight breaks the previous
world record of 1,061 pounds. Pumpkinfest Media Liaison Mini Jaques said
event officials were waiting for confirmation from other weigh-in sites
that Burke's entry, one of 92 weighed, was a world record. This was
Burke's first year at Pumpkinfest, and he said he's going to keep coming
back. "I'm in my second year of growing," he said. "I just did what I
learned from my friends and got a lot of luck to help me out." Burke
said the pumpkin weighed in at 1,040 pounds before the competition, 50
pounds under the winning weight.
The spotlight is already on Burke and his prize-winning pumpkin. The
Regis and Kathy Lee Show and The Late Show with David Letterman have
already tried to contact him about making an appearance on their
respective shows. Burke won $10,500 over the weekend. He won $3,000 for
the International Weigh-Off competition, and should have another $6,000
coming to him for the pumpkin being the largest in the world, and
another $1,500 for having the heaviest pumpkin out of the three weighing
sites in Ontario, with Sarnia and Ottawa being
the other two. Bob and Elaine MacKenzie of Tiverton finished in second
place in the competition, with their entry coming in at 1,010 pounds.
Another growing record was established at the International Weigh-Off.
Joanne Donkers of Michigan set a new site record in the watermelon
category with a melon weighing 189.5 pounds. There were 50,000 people on
hand to witness the giant pumpkin over the weekend, and that doesn't
include the thousands of people at the carshow downtown. That number
breaks last year's mark of just over 40,000 people for the two-day
event. The car show also set a new record, topping 1,200 cars over the
weekend. Norm Craven won the zucchini competition with a weight of 65.2
pounds. He also had the tallest cornstalk at Pumpkinfest, measuring in
at 299 inches, and the tallest sunflower at 236 inches. Grant McGregor
won the cabbage division, with his cabbage tipping the scales at 61
pounds. Rick Smith had the heaviest gourd, which weighed in at 86
pounds. And in the squash division, Steve Hoult walked off with a 698
pound squash. Pumpkinfest Coordinator Jan Bonhomme said she was very
pleased with how the weekend went. "Things could not have gone any
better for us," she said. "The weather held up and everyone looked like
they had a good time." A minor accident occurred Saturday afternoon at
the farm machinery show. An eight-year-old girl was looking at a piece
of equipment with her brother when her
finger was caught in the machine, cutting off the tip. 

She was taken to the hospital in Owen Sound where her finger was
examined.  Bonhomme said the girl and her family came back on Sunday.
The piece of equipment was removed to prevent any further accidents.
Pumpkinfest gained notoriety around the world following the news of
Burke's pumpkin. The British Broadcasting Corporation contacted Bonhomme
for an interview Sunday night and a festival in Colorado Springs called
her for advice on staging a similar event.
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