Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
WORLAND — A Montana state pumpkin record and a Wyoming state watermelon record were broken at the Wyoming State Champion Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off Saturday in Worland.
Dawson Utterback of Worland broke the Wyoming state record for watermelon with his 40-pound watermelon on Saturday.
There were 12 growers and 14 giant pumpkins weighed Saturday, four of the 14 pumpkins were damaged and the weight did not count in the competition. This year’s competition was won by Jason McGimpsey of Montana. His pumpkin weighed 1,200 pounds.
Jay Richard of Jay’s Giants and organizer of the Wyoming State Champion Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off said McGimpsey has been growing about four years. “It was awesome to see someone we’ve never seen before win,” he said.
Second place went to Milli Shelton of Riverton with a 813-pound pumpkin. Third place was Ray Butz of Worland with a 572-pound pumpkin.
There were seven growers from Worland. In addition to Butz, Stacy Martinez placed fourth with 375-pound pumpkin, Ian Johnson was fifth with 360 pounds, Phil Johnson sixth with 336 pounds, Jacque Pike was eighth with a 91-pound pumpkin.
Jay Richard and Dawson Utterback both had damaged pumpkins. Richard’s pumpkin Maci, weighed 1,339 pounds, Utterback’s was 647 pounds.
The Wyoming state giant pumpkin record is 1,491 pounds from Andy Corbin of Cheyenne.
Richard’s Maci was about 1,600 pounds before “she went down” a few weeks ago, Richard said. “She quit growing about three weeks ago. They should look like an apple lying it on its side. She looked like a donut. She was growing backward with the stem underneath her,” he said.
He moved Maci four times to try and get her off of her vine. She was growing at her peak 50 pounds per day. “She got so big I got scared so I wasn’t moving her anymore. The vine died about three weeks ago. With the vine dead it was only a matter of time before Maci started dying as well and then a mouse began to munch on her as well. The mouse damage was not noticed until they went to pick her up.”
Each year Richard works to keep three giant pumpkins for competitions. Sally was lost in early September. Another pumpkin was judged in Utah, taking fourth place at 1,156 pounds.
He was saving Maci for the Wyoming championship in hopes of setting a new state record.
Maci had only about 40 viable seeds available and Richard said about half of that he will give away to potential growers. He will be using her seeds for next year.
“I’m definitely growing one of them,” Richard said.
This year’s growth, prior to the damage, was a success for two reasons, he said. The first was the seeds themselves a cross from the Alaskan state record and the Wyoming state record. “The genetics were excellent,” he said.
The second was the strong fertilizer program he implemented that included extensive soil and tissue sampling throughout the season.
Plus, he added, “We had good weather.”
Richard is ready for next year.
As for the event on Saturday at Diesel Pickup Specialists on North 10th, Richard said “it was the smoothest it has ever gone. We have an awesome group of volunteers. He said he appreciates the volunteers, sponsors and all those who came out to the event.
This year’s spectators got to see Maci dropped on a Isuzu Trooper and a Yamaha snowmobile provided by Marcus Beall. The snowmobile, Richard said, was because “I hate winter.”