Great day trip from Cape Cod: Giant pumpkin festival rolls into Rhode Island

Eric Williams, Cape Cod Times
Updated ·2 min read

The best off-Cape day trips reward you with amazing sights. How about giant pumpkins that weigh over a ton?

Impossibly enormous gourds will be the star of the show at the Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off & Fall Festival at Pasquale Farms Garden Center in Richmond, Rhode Island, on Oct. 7. The event begins at 10 a.m., and pumpkin-smashing fans should plan to be there by 11:30 a.m. when a giant pumpkin will be dropped from a crane. The weigh-off will begin around noon.

Food trucks, local vendors, hayrides and music will also be part of the fun. But the weigh-off competition is serious business for members of the Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Growers. Last year's winner tipped the scales at 2,240.5 pounds!

This giant pumpkin will be dropped from a crane and smashed during the Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off & Fall Festival at Pasquale Farms in Richmond, Rhode Island, on Oct. 7.
This giant pumpkin will be dropped from a crane and smashed during the Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off & Fall Festival at Pasquale Farms in Richmond, Rhode Island, on Oct. 7.

"These are massive pumpkins that take all year to grow," said Lauren Pasquale, owner of Pasquale Farms Garden Center. "And we're hearing that one of the pumpkins that is coming is especially huge."

Getting a giant pumpkin to the finish line is no easy task.

"As all giant pumpkin growers know, it's Murphy's Law," East Falmouth pumpkin grower Dave Hampton told the Cape Cod Times in 2010. "They'll get a disease or they'll crack, or the blossom end will blow out. There are a lot of sad stories."

And growing a giant pumpkin takes up a lot of garden space. In her book "Backyard Giants," author Susan Warren described it this way:

"Giant pumpkins are greedy things. They're huge plants that typically cover 500 to 1,200 square feet in a solid leaf canopy, with hundreds of feet of vines and a dense mat of roots spreading out dozens of feet in all directions. Once the vines begin to bear fruit, they suck in nutrients from the soil like a botanical black hole."

Admission to the festival is $5 for adults. Children 12 and under are free. Pasquale Farms (421 Kingstown Road, Richmond, Rhode, Island.) is about a two-hour drive from the Mid-Cape area. While the fastest route takes you through Providence, a scenic alternative route through Newport only adds a few minutes to the trip, and includes a ride over two beautiful bridges that span Narragansett Bay.

Eric Williams, when not solving Curious Cape Cod mysteries, writes about a variety of ways to enjoy the Cape, the weather, wildlife and other subjects. Contact him at ewilliams@capecodonline.com. Follow him on Twitter: @capecast.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Giant pumpkin festival in Rhode Island: A great day trip from Cape Cod