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The sass squash of pumpkins

Kevin Giles, Star Tribune

Chris Stevens, shown with his 5-year-old daughter Kaley, will enter this 1,340-pound pumpkin in Stillwater’s giant pumpkin contest on Saturday. The Stevens family grew the pumpkin this summer in their family garden south of New Richmond, Wis.

It's big and ugly, but the 1,300-pound behemoth grown in New Richmond, Wis., is what draws people to the Stillwater Harvest Fest.

By KEVIN GILES, Star Tribune

Last update: October 9, 2009 - 10:07 PM

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IF YOU GO • Giant pumpkins unloaded 9-10:30 a.m. • Giant pumpkins weighed 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. • Chili cook-off noon to 3 p.m. • Live music noon to 3:30 p.m. • Winners named, with giant-pumpkin drop to follow 3:30 p.m. • Children's events all day For a complete schedule go to www.stillwaterharvestfest.com.

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Now that's a big pumpkin, a probable fat and sassy 1,300 pounds, biding its time in the Stevens family garden until today's Stillwater Harvest Fest and Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off.

Chris Stevens, 31, had nurtured the pumpkin since May 1 at his home south of New Richmond, Wis., spending an hour a day making sure this one and seven other monsters got their proper care and feeding.

"That's the whole key -- the pruning and training of the vine," said Stevens, who started growing big pumpkins in 2006 after he caught the pumpkin fever from his long-distance running buddy.

Stevens had hoped that today's entrant, which resembles a giant beanbag chair, would compete for a $1,200 first prize. But he was deflated Friday as he loaded the pumpkin to find a crack on its bottom side that renders the pumpkin ineligible for prize money.

He plans to take it to Stillwater anyway, to display it just as he's done with other big pumpkins in recent weeks. He hauled three pumpkins weighing a total of 4,200 pounds to Red Wing, and his 1,543-pound pumpkin is being shown at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, where it will be carved three days before Halloween.

He entered that pumpkin in a Wisconsin contest Oct. 3 -- "I held the state record for about five minutes before a bigger one came along" -- but weigh-off rules prevent giant pumpkins from being entered in more than one contest.

Despite the work involved, he never tires of putting the pumpkins on display.

"It's worth it to see the looks on people's faces," said Stevens, who likes to grow giant pumpkins because he finds it entertaining. "Nothing turns a grown-up into a child so fast."

The Stillwater event begins at 10 a.m. in Lowell Park downtown with carving demonstrations. A chili feed, beer tasting, pumpkin baking and decorating contests, a pedal tractor pull and several other activities will follow.

A winner in the pumpkin weigh-off will be named at 3:30 p.m. The Minnesota state record was weighed in last year at this very event, a 1,428 pounder grown by Chad Revier.

A pumpkin drop scheduled after the winners are announced draws crowds, Stevens said.

"People think it's a big deal to see a 1,000-pound pumpkin smash on the street and disintegrate," he said.

More and more younger men are growing pumpkins these days, Stevens said. His friend, Joe Ailts of the St. Croix Growers' Association, started the weigh-offs.

Stevens and his wife, Amy, say that motorists stop to examine the large pumpkin they've placed at the entrance to their driveway and say they field questions all summer such as, "How many pies would that pumpkin make?" (They say they have no way to know.) The big pumpkins make their daughters, 5-year-old Kaley and 2-year-old Amber, somewhat of celebrities around their friends.

One of their pumpkins grew 1,200 pounds in 40 days. The big ones drink about an inch and a half of water a week. They require constant care, such as draping them with sheets on hot summer days to prevent cracking. Vines and roots attached to a single big pumpkin consume about 600 square feet.

Stevens said the Stillwater weigh-off is more about size than grace.

"Pumpkins this large can get pretty ugly," he said. "This isn't a beauty contest by any means."

Kevin Giles • 612-673-4432

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