8th annual pumpkin fest slated to weigh-in Saturday

Ken Johnston
Editor

Last week it was big fish, this weekend it will be giant pumpkins as the 8th 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. There are also rumours of a 900+ lb. pumpkin coming from Thunder Bay.
The day will begin with registration at 10 a.m. All entries can be registered from that time until 1 p.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.
Children’s activities such as face painting and games will begin at 11 a.m.
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 Levi Marken of Baudette whose pumpkin tipped the scales at 659 lbs. He unseated his dad, Jim Marken, who won the year before with a 691 pounder.
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 $500 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.
There will be a guess the weight contest of a giant pumpkin and to round things out a Pumpkin Seed Spitting Contest will measure the might of local spitters and perhaps even a politician or two.
All are welcome and their is no admission for spectators.