WARREN, R.I. — A Rhode Island grower has set a new world record for the heaviest pumpkin. Ron Wallace’s pumpkin weighed 3,156 pounds, making it the first pumpkin ever to top 3,000 pounds, according to Guinness World Records.
He weighed it on Oct. 10 at the Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off at Frerichs Farm in Warren, Rhode Island.
A record that lasted one week
The previous record belonged to Ian Paton of Lymington, England. His pumpkin weighed about 2,857 pounds, or 1,296 kilograms, at a competition in Berkshire, England, on Oct. 3. Paton had broken a 2,819-pound mark that he and his brother set the year before.
Wallace’s pumpkin beat Paton’s by nearly 300 pounds, so the world record changed hands twice in about a week. Officials from the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth inspected the pumpkin and confirmed it met competition standards before it was weighed.
Who is Ron Wallace
Wallace, 60, lives in Coventry, Rhode Island. This is his third world record in roughly 35 years of growing giant pumpkins.
- 2006: 1,502 pounds, the first pumpkin to officially top 1,500 pounds.
- 2012: 2,009 pounds, the first to pass 2,000 pounds.
- 2026: 3,156 pounds, the first to pass 3,000 pounds.
He told Guinness this was his first season growing in a greenhouse. He credited nearly perfect weather and a more scientific approach.
Turning down bigger prizes
Wallace said other contests tried to attract him with larger prize money, with some offering as much as $70,000. He chose to weigh his pumpkin in his home area instead. He said it takes a community working together to grow a 3,000-pound pumpkin.
Another big pumpkin on the West Coast
In Northern California, a pumpkin named Rocky won the World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay on Monday. It weighed 2,389 pounds. That was far short of the world record, and the grower, Gienger, missed out on an extra $30,000 bonus that was offered for breaking the record. The prize there is calculated at $9 per pound.
How big is it?
Guinness noted that a pumpkin this size could make more than 3,000 pumpkin pies.
Growers around the world are entering weigh-offs this month, so the record could change again, though Wallace’s mark is now more than 300 pounds above the old one.
