Cooperstown resident and Middle School Science teacher Amy Parr won the Otsego County Pumpkin Growing Contest at the 1st annual Cooperstown Pumpkiun Fest. Held in the Double day parking lot on Oct 2nd, the first annual event drew more than 50 very large pumpkins for local and international weigh in.

October 2nd is the day across the world that all giant pumpkin growers weigh thier pumpkins. The results are tallied and fedd back to the International Growers association.

The Cooperstown event had cash prizes for the biggest local pumpkin (Amy Parr at  317 lbs) and the biggest grown in NY State. This year a new record pumpkin for NY state weighed in at 1137 lbs. Many local observers said this especially difficualt given the wet growing conditions this season.

It was on the Windsor farm of Howard Dill that giant pumpkins evolved. A four-time Guinness Book of World Records holder and developer of the Dill’s Atlantic Giant pumpkin seeds, Mr. Dill is credited with launching the international craze of growing giant pumpkins.

With the evolution of giant pumpkins came the creation of the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth, and Windsor is one of the 20 official weigh-off sites in North America. For almost two decades, pumpkin growers across Atlantic Canada, and from as far away as New York State, have brought their giant gourds to Windsor to compete in the annual Pumpkin Weigh-off, held the first Saturday in October.
 

For more info contact Angus Mackie at angus@rbs2000.com