Giant pumpkins -- any way you want them

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

One of the big crowd attractions at next weekend's Stillwater Harvest Fest is the giant pumpkin drop when a crane releases a massive specimen for a smashing good time.

"A huge hit," said John Branch, one of the event organizers, describing both the splatter and the crowd reaction.

In related events, growers of 30 to 40 pumpkins, many of them weighing more than 1,500 pounds, will compete in a weigh-off. Others will race on the St. Croix River in hollowed-out massive pumpkins.

The events, all held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, are part of a festival that last year drew thousands of spectators. The largest pumpkin ever entered in the Harvest Fest weighed 1,544.5 pounds, but Branch thinks that some exceeding 1,600 pounds could show up this year.

The Minnesota state record, he said, is 1,579 pounds set in 2009.

"There's a lot of strategizing by the guys who have the big ones," Branch said of the weigh-off. "There's a lot of secrecy too."

Branch said this year's giant fruit and vegetable competition will include contests for watermelon, long gourds, field pumpkins, tomatoes and squash.

Other Harvest Fest activities include a sheep shearing, a chili cook-off, a beer and wine tasting, a pedal tractor pull, pumpkin decorating and baking contests. Spectators also can watch master pumpkin carvers and vegetable artists at work.

For children, the event has face painting, mini pumpkin decorating, a coloring contest and a costume parade.

Profits from the event benefit Valley Outreach Food Shelf.

For more information on Harvest Fest, go to stillwaterharvestfest.com.