In 2026, a Minnesota grower travelled 35 hours with a 2,389-pound pumpkin and won California’s weigh-off for the fifth time

A horticulture teacher by the name of Travis Gienger, from Anoka, Minnesota, won the top award at Half Moon Bay’s 53rd Safeway World Championship on October 12, 2026. Gienger’s pumpkin, called Rocky, weighed in at 2,389 pounds and earned him $21,501, based on the contest’s payout system of $9 for each pound.The competition drew dozens of growers to Half Moon Bay, who brought their giant pumpkins. According to the official results, Gienger won the Open Division, and the second position was taken by Jake Leonard of Rocklin, California, who finished with 2,273 pounds and received $3,000, alongside a $1,000 award for the largest Californian pumpkin. For third place, Brian Christensen of Rexburg, Idaho, came in at 1,873 pounds. Rocky was transported from Minnesota in a journey that took about 35 hours, with Gienger and his family driving, the Associated Press said. The pumpkin was roughly the size of a small car, and after the win, Gienger said: “Five-time champion, that’s what we came here to do.”Rocky’s growth and the return to Half Moon BayGienger started growing Rocky in April in his backyard patch in Anoka and, CBS Minnesota reported, he spent the summer weeding, trimming, fertilising and feeding the pumpkin sugar water. The giant pumpkins were capable of gaining 60 to 70 pounds in a day, Gienger said, and Rocky had added nearly 1,700 pounds during July.The growing season brought temperatures below freezing, and to cope with it, Gienger said he will likely need a climate-controlled environment if he wants to compete more seriously. The conditions had made growing Rocky particularly challenging, but the pumpkin continued developing through the Minnesota summer.Gienger’s return to the stage in 2026 came after a year of missing out on Half Moon Bay. His three-year winning streak from 2022 to 2024 had ended in 2025, when his pumpkin broke while growing, though he had previously won in 2020. Following the competition, Gienger posed with his championship rings, per the official results, and organisers built a float for him in the Half Moon Bay parade. Rocky was showcased in the downtown parade the weekend after the weigh-off.The records, awards and other growers At the 2026 Half Moon Bay event, Rocky was the heaviest pumpkin, but it remained below Gienger’s own contest record. In 2023, his 2,749-pound pumpkin, named Michael Jordan, had set the weigh-off mark. Subsequently, Guinness World Records recognised the pumpkin that measured 253 inches around as the largest jack-o’-lantern after artist Eric Jones carved it in Clarence, New York, in November 2023.In the days before the California competition, the wider record had changed. Fox 9 reported that on October 3, Ian Paton, a British grower, had set a 2,856-pound record that stood for only a few days. Ron Wallace’s pumpkin followed, weighing 3,156 pounds at a Rhode Island weigh-off on October 10, though Guinness had not yet verified it. Gienger missed out on Half Moon Bay’s additional $30,000 award for breaking the world record, the AP noted.The weigh-off itself began in 1974 as a friendly challenge between Half Moon Bay and Circleville, Ohio, to see who could grow the biggest pumpkin. Other growers beyond the main weigh-off standings were also recognised by the competition, such as Tom McGuirk of Half Moon Bay, who won the Coastside-grown pumpkin award with a 352-pound entry. Vince Zunino of Los Altos Hills also received the Joe Cotchett family award for the prettiest pumpkin, named Tinkerbell.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.