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| 1524 pounds HUGE! By Lewis Rutherfurd--[ lewis@hmbreview.com ] Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, October 10, 2007 4:14 PM PDT There was a new grand-prize winner at the annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off Monday, the traditional start of the week that crescendos in to the Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival climactic weekend. Thad Starr, a stay-at-home dad from Pleasant Hill, Ore., won the big prize with a shiny, shapely, 1,524-pound, festival-record pumpkin. Starr's off-white behemoth unseated six-time winner Joel Holland of Puyallup, Wash., who finished second with a 1,384-pound offering. Jim Sherwood of Mulino, Ore., was third and Leonardo Urena of Napa placed fourth. Starr took home a pumped-up top prize of $6 per pound for the win, meaning his check was written for $9,144, Jeremy Markus, store director of the local Safeway, said after a quick look at his calculator. Holland netted $2,000, Sherwood $1,500 - and the relatively local Urena got $1,000 for his heavy lifting. Starr's winner was a Half Moon Bay contest record by about 300 pounds. The world record was set just last week by legendary Rhode Island grower Joe Jutras, who set the bar above 1,600 pounds, said Jack Olsen, executive administrator of the San Mateo County Farm Bureau. City Councilman John Muller had Half Moon Bay's largest pumpkin, a San Mateo County record and the first ever grown here to top 800 pounds. The smallest on the board was local as well - an 87-pounder grown by the children in the Andreini family. But even if it was the out-of-state heavies that brought most of the thunder to the I.D.E.S grounds on Main Street Monday morning, the weigh-off was a Half Moon Bay show all the way. An early rising crowd tracked the contenders, with Gail Raabe, the county's agricultural commissioner joining Olsen and other officials from the San Mateo County Farm Bureau on stage to call the weights. Meanwhile, the Half Moon Bay High School band smoothly riffed off standard hits to call the tune. "This is Connie Giambra from San Rafael weighing in at 658 pounds," said Rabbe as the band launched into a few bars of the Temptation's classic, "My Girl." (For the record, it was actually Connie's pumpkin that hit the scale and not Connie.) Bystanders "oohed" and "aahed" as if they were witnessing the annual fireworks show. "Look at that one - look at the color," said one spectator as a heavily veined, greenish 600-pound blob was hoisted toward the stage to the strains of another Temptations tune, "Get Ready." And it's a good thing the locals are such connoisseurs, because it takes more to run a world-class pumpkin show than it used to. Gone are the days when contestants would phone in contenders from Ohio and other far-flung locales. There's competition for the pumpkin capitol designation now and there are competing pumpkin festivals elsewhere. "People choose which ones to go to," said Marina Fraser, a City Council member who for one day had become a mere note runner for Olsen at the weigh-off. "We've got good money though," said Mayor Naomi Patridge, in a bit of civic boosting. Behind the hall on Johnston Street, where the real weigh-off jockeying takes place, the big growers were in town and waiting their turn on the scale. "At 80 days, it was really gorgeous," said self-described pumpkin fanatic Vince Zunino from Los Altos, describing a bright orange pumpkin that was sagging the forks of his pickup truck. "Then we got a little 'cantalouping' on the top and then we got a little greening on the side," he added ruefully, rubbing the veiny brown patches. Zunino and his daughter took second last year - a terrific showing for a San Mateo County pumpkin. But the out-of-state ringers were here in force this year. Holland's pumpkin prowess is not to be denied. An ex-battalion chief from a city fire department and a 20-year pumpkin grower, he comes south ready to win. His giant white gourd lurked, lumpen and horrendous, in the back of his pickup. Gallon jugs of water, or God knows what secret potion, were taped to the stumps of its severed stalks - as if keeping the wounded monster alive for the final battle. In the end it came down to three: Holland's great, cantalouped Washington warrior and the one-two squash combo of the Willamette Valley boys, Starr and Jim Sherwood. Locals Mel and Dan Mello and Bert Silva, wheeled their forklifts around, dismounting to choose the final weighing order. "I don't know. I'm nervous," said Mari Lou Holland as she eyed the Willamette beasts, strapped and harnessed for lifting as they crowded her husband's offering. "That's the heaviest," said Mel Mello, as he slapped the side of a pale Oregonian, his ear pressed to the sodden flesh. "Solid baby!" John Bianchi, the vice director of the Pumpkin Festival committee, had been choreographing the show all morning. "You guys know we're going to be doing the raising before we weigh 'em, right?" he told his drivers. "Let's get in line and we'll go in together." The pumpkins were scooted in and forklifted high above the I.D.E.S. crowd before being grappled in for the weigh-off. The crowd let out a roar when Starr's prize flashed 1,524 pounds on the digital display, but it had been decided that Holland, the six-time champ and winner of the last three weigh-offs, would take to the scale last. "We had a grand champ, we had a repeat, we had a three-peat," said Olsen. "But unfortunately we won't have a four-time winner." Holland took second at 1,384 pounds and Starr took the spotlight and the festival record at the 2007 weigh-off. "I had a lot of help from some very friendly people - and some luck," said Starr as the media scrum pushed in. He talked of a lifelong rivalry with his older brother and fond childhood memories of family gardening that drove him to grow the giant gourd in his one-acre back yard. He praised the balmy climate of the Willamette Valley - foreshadowing perhaps the beginning of an Oregon dynasty - and he fielded the inevitable performance enhancement questions that must accompany any big record these days. "Do you use many artificial chemicals?" a Japanese reporter ventured, microphone in hand. "Just a lot of fish fertilizer and seaweed," Starr replied. "There's some growers that grow that way but it just doesn't work as well. "If you're using synthetics - you're trying to run a marathon on a candy bar," he added, sounding like a true Bay Area champion. • WEIGH-OFF WINNERS Open Division Weight Prize 1st -Thad Starr, Pleasant Hill, Ore. 1,524 lbs. $9,144 2nd - Joel Holland, Puyallup, Wash. 1,384 lbs. $2,000 3rd - Jim Sherwood, Mulino, Ore. 1,343 lbs. $1,500 4th - Leonardo Urena, Napa 1,292 lbs. $1,000 5th -Steve Daletas, Pleasant Hill, Ore. 1,203 lbs. $ 500 6th - Pete Glasier, Napa 1,158 lbs. $ 500 7th - Cindi Glasier, Napa 1,116 lbs. $ 500 8th - Pam Vanderschoot, Napa 1,094 lbs. $ 500 9th - Amanda & Vince Zunino, Los Altos 1,069 lbs. $ 500 10th - Lee Hudson, Napa 1,059 lbs. $ 500 San Mateo County Division 1st - John Muller, Half Moon Bay 814 lbs. $ 500 2nd - Jerry Bello, Half Moon Bay 590 lbs. $ 300 3rd - Eda Muller, Half Moon Bay 563 lbs. $ 200 Special Prizes: Most Beautiful Pumpkin Eric Carlson, Portola Valley $ 500 Biggest from State of California Leonardo Urena, Napa 1,292 lbs $1,000 Biggest from the Coastside John Muller, Half Moon Bay 814 lbs. $ 500 Biggest from a local Farm Bureau member James Martin, Hayward 977 lbs. $ 500 |