Heaviest pumpkin

Heaviest pumpkin
Who
Travis Gienger
What
1,246.9 kilogram(s)
Where
United States (Half Moon Bay)
When

The heaviest pumpkin weighed 2,749 pounds (1,246.9 kilograms) when it was presented by Travis Gienger (USA) at the 50th Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off held in Half Moon Bay, California, USA, on 9 October 2023. The record was confirmed by the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth.


As it is the year 2023, Gienger named the gigantic gourd "Michael Jordan" (a nod to the iconic basketball player's shirt number), plus because the pumpkin "started out basketball round, and I said this is going to be a perfectly round basketball-shaped pumpkin”. As it transpired, it ended up far from spherical, but nevertheless a record-breaking size.

This surpassed the previous heaviest pumpkin of 1,226 kg (2,702 lb 13.9 oz), grown by Stefano Cutrupi (Italy) from Radda in Chianti, Tuscany, Italy, as ratified at the 10th Campionato della Zuccone pumpkin festival held in Peccioli, Italy, on 26 September 2021. That was the first ever giant pumpkin in competition to surpass the 2,700-lb mark.

Horticulture teacher Gienger is no stranger to the record books with his pumpkins, having grown several giants which have gone on to be converted into record-setting jack o'lanterns. Most recently in 2022, his 2,560-lb (1,161.2-kg) gourd, dubbed "Maverick", was transformed into an eagle-themed jack o'lantern by carver Mike Rudolph (USA); it had a record circumference of 242 in (20 ft 2 in; 614.7 cm).