7th Giant Pumpkin Festival is this Saturday

by Ken Johnston
Editor

Last week it was big fish, this weekend it will be giant pumpkins as the 7th Annual Rainy River Valley Giant Pumpkin Festival is held under the big tent in Rainy River.

Event coordinator, Eltjo Wiersema, said that everything is on course for a great weekend with all the favourite parts of it remaining on the agenda.

The day will begin with registration at 10 a.m. A harvest display will begin at 10 a.m. as well in which people are encouraged to bring their longest, heaviest and most oddly shaped vegetables.

A pot-luck meal which has seen as many as 300 people fed in past years, will be held at Noon.

At 1 p.m. the moment everyone has been growing for will take place. A hearty crew of men as well as a tractor will be lifting the big pumpkins onto the scale. Last year the champion was Jim Marken of Baudette whose pumpkin tipped the scales at 691 lbs., the third biggest ever at the Rainy River competition.

Marken has taken an active role in this year’s competition, promoting it as far away as Bemidji and Roseau, Minnesota. Wiersema expects entries from those areas and feels that while the growing season has been wet here, that there will be some big ones.

The weigh-offs and judging will be completed by 2:30 p.m. with an award ceremony to follow. Wiersema hopes that the local growers will eventually set a world record at the competition. However they have a ways to go as it is around the 1,100 pound mark.

The heaviest pumpkin will earn $1,000 in prize money as well as title to the coveted Golden Hoe. Second place will receive $200 and Third $100.

Heaviest pumpkin for a junior grower will receive $50, 2nd $25 and 3rd $10.

An award for hidden weight will be presented. The winner will receive $100.

Rookie of the Year will receive the famous Silver Watering Can and the grower of the smallest pumpkin will get the Banzai Award.

Awards for the Ugliest, Most Attractive and Best Decorated Pumpkins will be given out as will awards for the Oddest Overall Vegetable. A Distance Award will be presented to the pumpkin grower that travelled the furthest to the competition.

All are welcome and there is no admission for spectators.