Giant vegetable growers rack up new records, and rookie wins at State Fair of Virginia

Source: VA Farm Bureau

DOSWELL, VA — Even first attempts can grow into towering state champions.

When Gwen and David Harris of Blacksburg brought their first giant watermelon to the State Fair of Virginia’s Giant Veggie Weigh-Off on Sept. 27, they weren’t expecting a blue ribbon.

“I never expect a winner—I don’t like to get my hopes up,” Gwen joked.

Image credit - VA Farm Bureau

David’s fascination with the fair’s giant watermelons inspired Gwen, a giant pumpkin grower, to share her passion with her husband. She gave him his first giant watermelon seeds for Christmas, and the couple began cultivating their hefty watermelon and pumpkin entries side-by-side.

“It was really nice to do this together,” she reflected.

Their watermelon plant showed promise from the beginning—resembling “a brick” in weight and shape at just 1 week old.

Aptly named “Brick,” the Harris’ watermelon claimed first place with a whopping weight of 232.6 pounds—earning the couple their first blue ribbon. Their 744-pound pumpkin captured sixth place despite a challenging growing season.

Steven Hall of Covington also faced hurdles while attempting to grow his first giant bushel gourd. When he couldn’t get his seeds to germinate, he called up fellow contestant Paul Jarosh of Culpeper County—the fair’s giant bushel gourd winner from 2021-2024.

Emulating the camaraderie of the giant produce-growing community, Jarosh shipped his extra bushel gourd plant to Hall, which grew into Hall’s first blue ribbon winner at 174.4 pounds. Jarosh’s giant bushel gourd claimed second place at 149.6 pounds.

While Hall plans on experimenting with other giant produce, his No. 1 priority is setting a new State Fair record for the heaviest pumpkin. And for 15 minutes, he did. His 1,507-pound pumpkin topped the fair record of 1,340.7 pounds set by Hank Houston of Spotsylvania County in 2015. But then the Meehan family of Broomhall, Pennsylvania, set a new fair record at 1,983 pounds.

Both growers and audience members honored Hall with the Prettiest Pumpkin Award.

Hall knew he’d grown his heftiest pumpkin yet before getting it off the ground.

“I went through three pieces of equipment at home trying to lift it—my tractor, my brother’s tractor, then we had to go get the neighbor’s tractor,” he laughed.

New fair records abound as growers showcased giant produce of all shapes, colors and sizes, including Jarosh’s 22.8-pound rutabaga; Tony Corbin of Culpeper County’s 7-pound eggplant; and Jason Loris of Rappahannock County’s daikon radish weighing 5.6 pounds, carrots stretching 32 inches long, and his 7.2-pound beet.