TOPSFIELD, Mass. — The giant pumpkin that was the heavyweight champion at this year’s Topsfield Fair is also heavyweight champion of the world.

The 1,689-pound, world-record-smashing pumpkin, displayed for a week in the fair’s Fruits and Vegetable Building, will be immortalized in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Topsfield Fair winner Joe Jutras of North Scituate, R.I., as well as two other growers of 1,600-pound pumpkins, will be on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Monday, Oct. 29, said Sally O’Maley, the fair’s spokeswoman.

It’s just the second time the fair has weighed a world-record holder.

“I have been competing for a while,” Jutras said of the fair’s All New England Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off, “and it was something I always wanted to win.”

“We are very excited,” said his wife, Susan Jutras. “He’s worked very hard, so he deserves it.”

The pumpkin has been touted as a world-record holder since it was weighed in the Arena on Sept. 29, but Jutras had to wait to see what might crop up at other weigh-offs in the United States and Canada.

Jutras managed to fend off a challenge from Donald Young of Des Moines, Iowa, who grew a 1,662-pounder, just 27 pounds shy of Jutras’ giant. Dan and Jason McKie of Gasport, N.Y., grew one to 1,631.5 pounds, the third largest pumpkin ever grown.

At the Topsfield Fair, Jutras beat out Bill Rodonis of Litchfield, N.H.

Rodonis held the world-record title with a 1,566-pound pumpkin until Jutras had his weighed a short time later, O’Maley said.

For Jutras to qualify for the world record, the fair’s general manager, James O’Brien, had to verify for Guinness that he witnessed the competition, one of the oldest and most prestigious among growers, and that it fell within the guidelines of a proper giant pumpkin weigh-off, O’Maley said

The 24th annual contest has come a long way over the years, she said.

For instance, in 1986 Don Fleming grew a winning 530-pounder, O’Maley said, and in 1989, Wayne Hackney grew one weighing 614 pounds. The cutoff to enter is 350 pounds.

As recently as 2000, the fair was offering $10,000 to the first 1,000-pound entry weighed at the fair.

Last year, a fellow Ocean State giant-pumpkin grower, Ron Wallace, broke the fair’s record with a 1,347-pounder.

Wallace then entered the Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Growers Championship weigh-off with a 1,502-pound, world-record holder.

Jutras credits Wallace for bringing information to growers, teaching them techniques such as how to use mycorrhizae fungi in the soil. The fungus attaches to the pumpkin’s roots and helps fight off pathogens, Jutras said.

He said growers have perfected the technique to grow a 2,000-pound pumpkin if the fruit can tolerate such a weight gain without splitting. Jutras said his pumpkin grew an average of 33.8 pounds a day for 35 days.

Jutras doesn’t know what he will do with his winning gourd. He would like to see it carved in New York City, with the proceeds from the sale going to charity. He plans to sell it online.

While Jutras broke the record in Topsfield this year, if he senses another world-record beater in the patch next year, it may not be heading up Route 1 next fall.

“Now that I’ve won it,” Jutras said, “I would bring (next year’s pumpkin) to Rhode Island and support my own club.”

Ethan Forman writes for The Salem News of Salem, Mass.



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Smashing pumpkin records

Here’s how the previous pumpkin champs stack up against the 1,689-pounder that rocked this year’s Topsfield Fair:

r In 2006, Ron Wallace of Rhode Island won the Rhode Island Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Growers Championship at Frerich’s Farm with a 1,502-pounder.

r In 2005, Larry Checkon of North Cambria, Pa., held the world record with a 1,469-pounder at the Pennsylvania Giant Pumpkin Growers Weigh Off, according to BigPumpkin.com.

r In 2004, Al Eaton of Richmond, Ontario, Canada, grew a 1,446-pounder that won the Port Elgin weigh-off.

r In 2003, Oregon’s Steve Deletas grew a world-record 1,385-pound pumpkin shown at the Canby Giant Pumpkin Festival.

r In 2002, the late Charlie Houghton of New Boston, N.H., grew a 1,337.6-pounder and had it weighed at the Topsfield Fair. The pumpkin broke the world record that year and held the New England record for a few years.