The top four pumpkins in the Second Annual Damariscotta Pumpkinfest Weigh-Off on Sun., Oct. 3 at Pinkham’s Plantation all surpassed the previous state record for the heaviest pumpkin.
Edwin Pierpont (1471 lbs.), of Jefferson, now reigns as the state record-holder, followed by Chip Button (1458.5), Bill Rodonis (1414) and Joe Gaboury (1327.5).
Bill Clark, a founder of the Damariscotta Pumpkinfest and Regatta, now in its fourth year, said the weigh-off has “taken on a life of its own.”
This year, Clark and the rest of the Pumpkinfest crew had “three times as much fruit as we expected to have at the weigh-off,” Clark said.
In other categories, J. Dunstan (596.5 lbs.) won among adult volunteer growers. Jay King (561 lbs.) grew the heaviest squash. Whitney Page (599.5 lbs.) won the youth pros division and Crysta Miller (443.5) took the prize for youth volunteers.
The top 10 finishers in each non-volunteer category brought in a total of $10,000 in prizes, with the largest, $2500, going to Edwin Pierpont.
Before the weigh-off, Steve Pierpont, a UPS driver from Cushing, said his record-breaking brother, Edwin, inspired him to start growing his own pumpkins. The excitement of competition and the pleasure of “seeing something grow” also fuel his hobby, he said.
“I’ve always had a vegetable garden,” Pierpont said. “My parents always had a garden. I just like to be outdoors.”
Pierpont grew his last giant, a 792-pounder, in 2008. “Last year, I couldn’t get one to grow,” he said, partly due to last summer’s dismal weather.
Growing giant pumpkins is “a lot of work,” Pierpont said. “Obviously you have to have good weather,” he said, but many other factors also contribute to a grower’s success or failure.
Pumpkin farmers need to “put plenty of nutrients in the ground” with the application of compost and/or manure and, of course, provide plenty of water, for which Pierpont uses sprinklers to irrigate his pumpkins with water from his farm pond.
Growers must also trim vines and protect the pumpkins from insects and other pests. “Mice started chewing on mine a little bit,” Pierpont said. “I put mothballs around it and some on top of it.”
After the weigh-off, Pierpont planned to take his pumpkin home and “carve it into a big jack-o-lantern.” Because of the pumpkin’s lopsided shape, “I don’t think it’ll make a good boat,” he said.
“If I get a top five [finish] I’ll be happy,” Pierpont said. He got his wish, finishing fifth and pocketing $250 for his 1219.5 lb. pumpkin.
Riley Golding, 10, of Damariscotta, finished second among volunteer growers in the children’s division with a 346 lb. pumpkin. Golding explained her strategy after the weigh-in.
“We have compost, so we put a lot of compost in it,” she said. “It took a lot of work but we did it.”
Elsewhere at Pinkham’s Plantation, Pumpkinfest volunteers sold t-shirts and other memorabilia and Andy Rice, a self-described “wildlife wood carver and sculptor” from Bowdoin, took a day off from wood to carve a giant pumpkin.
Rice’s intricate carving featured various creatures of local renown – a lobster, a crab, a horseshoe crab, a turtle and several alewives.
As he carved, Rice explained part of Pumpkinfest’s attraction. “The town does a lot of nice, constructive things for families and youth, so obviously you want to support it,” he said. “A lot of towns drag in a carnival and families have to take a second mortgage to go… This is free and the kids love it.”
Finishing the pumpkin will occupy “a good part of the day,” but “a lot less time than if it was wood,” Rice said.
“It’s an obsession,” Rice said of his craft. For now, it’s a part-time obsession – “stress relief” – as Rice works full-time as a Project Manager at Bath Iron Works (BIW).
The pumpkin Rice carved Sunday had a particularly poignant significance, as William “Woody” Woodcock, the grower of the pumpkin and Rice’s longtime coworker at BIW, passed away Sept. 20.
Woodcock had entered multiple pumpkins in the weigh-off and Clark briefly spoke about Woodcock’s involvement as volunteers weighed his first. “Woody was instrumental in helping out with our regatta,” Clark said. “He was our MacGyver.”
“Woody will be missed, but his fruit made it to the scale,” Clark said. In Woodcock’s memory, this year’s race will be known as the Woody Woodcock Memorial Regatta, he said.
Woodcock’s largest pumpkin, at 349.5 lbs., finished 15th in the adult volunteer division.
Two days after the weigh-off, on Oct. 5, Clark was loading giant pumpkins onto a trailer belonging to a contestant from Sabattus.
This year’s Pumpkinfest has just begun and Clark believes the event will build on the success of previous years. One big addition this year is the American Chunker, a 100-foot long air cannon from Merrimack, N.H., which recently took over the world record for pumpkin chunking from The Big Ten Inch, also competing this year.
In a competition in Utah, the American Chunker shot a pumpkin 5500 feet. “They’re the first team to shoot over a mile,” Clark said.
Regardless of who wins, the true purpose of Pumpkinfest is “for people to have a good time and have fun in the fall,” Clark said.
For more information on Pumpkinfest and Regatta events, including pumpkin boat building, pumpkin chunking for distance and accuracy, a giant pumpkin parade, a pumpkin pie eating contest, underwater pumpkin carving, a 200 foot pumpkin drop and, of course, the pumpkin boat regatta, visit http://damariscottapumpkinfest.com.
