Fort Collins Nursery has been hosting its annual pumpkin weigh-off for thirteen years, giving growers from all over Colorado and Southern Wyoming the chance to enter their hefty harvests into the annual competition with hopes of taking home the grand prize.

The nursery held the 2021 weigh-off competition on October 9 and this year, twenty massive pumpkins were included in the running, which is the most participants ever to take part in the seasonal contest. Eight additional pumpkins were also entered into the kids' division.

The grower who took home the grand prize this year was Chad New from Colorado, whose pumpkin weighed a whopping 1,676 pounds. The entry that landed in second place wasn't too far behind, with a monster pumpkin weighing 1,544 pounds, and third place was Jim Grande's pumpkin which was also pretty grand itself at 1,491 pounds. Check out Fort Collin's Nursery's full list of winners and pumpkin weights here.

Not only was Chad New's pumpkin the heaviest ever recorded in all of the years that the competition has occurred, but the second-place entry also claimed a new Wyoming state record this time around as well. To add to the festivities, New and Grande both earned coveted jackets for having a combined weight of over 4,000 pounds between the two of their giant pumpkins together.

Fort Collins Nursery
Fort Collins Nursery
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The winner of the kids' division was a combined entry from Austen Smith, August Busch, and Willa Kate Smith who submitted a huge pumpkin that weighed 157 pounds.

Fort Collins Nursery
Fort Collins Nursery
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Fort Collins Nursery held several other competitions during the day, such as the heaviest watermelon, which went to Calvin Wohlert with an entry weighing 134 pounds.

Fort Collins Nursery
Fort Collins Nursery
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Following the competition, the pumpkins were put on display at the Gardens on Spring Creek.

Fall Through the Eyes of Your Fellow Coloradans

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