That's going to make a whopping jack o'lantern, isn't? This Utah couple will be eating pumpkin pie for days with a pumpkin this big. I kid, but we can all agree that the ton pumpkin is quite an impressive feat.
A Utah couple just set the state record with a giant 2,289-pound pumpkin. Ralph and Launa Laub are the couple in question. The couple competed in the Center Street Giant Pumpkin Festival in Logan, Utah. Last year's winner Jay Richard, aka the "Pumpkin King," was excited for the couple and gladly handed over his crown.
"It felt fantastic to be there," he told Cowboy State Daily. "At least I had something to put on the scale with them and to share in the excitement." Richard's pumpkin was still impressive, weighing in at 1,285. Get a couple of those bad boys together and you can build a Cinderella carriage.
"It was a beautiful weekend," he said. "It felt great to see them succeed, and to have the success that they did. They worked for it, and they earned it.
Image via Jay Richards
A Whole Lot OF Pumpkin
Although it was quite an impressive feat, the couple ended up breaking the record by just two pounds. Muhammad Sadiq held the previous record from 2022. Richards said the couple was stressed out as the scale balanced out.
It took a second for it to settle," he said. "It was 1 pound for a second, then it clicked up to 2 pounds when it all settled. One pound was enough, but 2 pounds gave some breathing room. The difference was basically a can of beer. It was pretty amazing."
Meanwhile, Logan D.J. Steffer of Nampa, Idaho broke his state record with a 1,415-pound pumpkin. Richards also believes that the heat from Utah may play a role in the couples' large pumpkins. He said it was harder to grow his own crop in Wyoming to compete.
"Utah is a long way south of us," he also said. "They don't get the big temperature swings like we do in Wyoming. Their highs aren't quite as high, and their lows aren't quite as low. I was frost-free for only 68 days in Worland, and they haven't had a frost yet. More moderate temperature is one of the things that they have an advantage on."
