Baudette boy grows 659 pound pumpkin and wins big!

Ken Johnston
Editor

It was a battle of past champions at the Rainy River Valley Giant Pumpkin Festival last Saturday.

Last year’s champion Jim Marken, of Baudette, made it a family affair this year having his kids grow pumpkins for the competition. Little did he know, he would be creating his own defeat.

Marken said that his pumpkin, which ended up in third place at 548 lbs. was growing at a rate that he thought would surely tip the scales at 900 lbs.

“Then all of a sudden it quit growing about a month ago.” However his son, Levi, 6, had a pumpkin that grew slow but steady. Steady enough to win the coveted golden hoe and $1,000 in prize money. It weighed in at 659 lbs.

While that was slightly smaller than his dad’s championship 691 pounder last year, it was enough to fend off the 1999 champion Don Cronk.

Cronk, of Thunder Bay, weighed in at 581 lbs. with a pumpkin that he did not expect to grow like it did. He planted it at his sister’s house and did very little to care for it, except water it with cold water once a week. At home he was busy fertilizing, supplying a steady stream of warm water and still could not yield the results of the fast growing pumpkin at his sister’s place.

Marken said that the secret to his continued success in pumpkin growing came from using soaker hoses to give the plants plenty of water. His pumpkin patch consisted of four plants covering an area 60’ X 80’. He also used dark tubs to heat the water before giving it to the plants. “You have to keep the leaves dry,” explained Marken. He used seeds from last year’s winning pumpkin but says that he is planning to try some new varieties for next year. He has really taken the sport of pumpkin growing quite serious and has even invested in an official Howard Dill Pumpkin Carrier. Dill is the man who started the Atlantic Giant Pumpkin craze with his special hybrid seeds.

Also posing a serious challenge to the Markens and Cronk was Wayne Both of Barwick. He holds the record for the largest pumpkin ever weighed in at the RRVPF and proved he is still in the hunt for another golden hoe. He weighed in two pumpkins that nearly tipped the 500 pound mark. One was 440 and the other was 480.

The Markens also did well in the Heaviest Pumpkin by a Jr. Grower. Levi took first and $50. His sister Jordan took second with a 267 lb. pumpkin. Kyle Olson of Rainy River came in third with a 259 pounder.

Rookie of the Year was none other than Jordan Marken for her 267 pounder.

Hidden Weight was won by Rod Gubbels of Baudette. with a 188 lb. pumpkin.

Ugliest Pumpkin honours went to Dorothy Wiersema of Rainy River.

Best Decorated Pumpkin went to The Singleton family of Rainy River. Second went to Judy Gubbels of Baudette and third went to the Riverview School grade 1 and 2 class.

Most Attractive Pumpkin went to Kim McKenzie of Bergland.

Smallest Pumpkin honours when to the CIBC staff.

Best Pumpkin Dessert was made by Iris Osadchuk, who also won the guess the pumpkin’s weight contest. It was 158 lbs. and she guessed it right on.

Oddest overall vegetable was won by Nicky Dorie of Stratton with a siamese set of pumpkins. Elsa Hanson came in second.

Best Vegetable Display was won by Inge Szeder of Emo. Second went to Alissa Penner of Rainy River.

The Pumpkin Seed Spitting contest was won by Mike McQuaker of Rainy River who spit one 38’ 2”. That beat out Guy Arpin who had held the lead much of the contest with more than 37’. Winning the youth category was Brenley Anderson of Rainy River with a 18’ 6” spit. Emily Fraser, of Rainy River, won the kids category with a 6’ 7” spit.

The Tallest Sunflower category was won by Dawn Graham and Bob Locking who both grew 12’ 4” sunflowers to tie.

About 400 people were on hand to take part in the event and organizers said that while entries were down from past years that they were pleased with the entire day.