What would mid-October be like without a glimpse of the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin weigh-off winner? Try making a jack-o-lantern out of that thing.
The guy above is John Hawkley, who looks like he's trying to roll his masterpiece of gourd growth down the road but is in fact just posing with it. Hawkley's pumpkin set a state record at 2,058 pounds. This was good enough to win him the 41st Annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Monday.
The Chronicle's got some history on the great advances in growing giant pumpkins that have occurred over the years:
More than 40 years ago, the champion pumpkin came in at 132 pounds. Since then, a breed of California growers has nurtured a delicate art, putting in hours of work each day to keep their pumpkins swelling. When tended to correctly, some gourds can gain 50 pounds in a single day.
The Chron says, "Hawkley started growing his monster on Easter and spent every day nurturing it. He cut the vine Sunday before making the drive south for the weigh-off. When he arrived, the pumpkin sagged on the bed of his truck before a crew came to forklift it onto the stage."
Apart from that, what can we say?