New York Man Sets Record for Heaviest Pumpkin in North America

Jelisa Castrodale
·2 min read
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Giant pumpkin
Giant pumpkin

Ken Wiedemann / Getty Images

Somebody let Linus from Peanuts know that there's a new Great Pumpkin in town — or at least there are a couple of new record-setting ones. This past weekend was a big one for truly supersized gourds. On Friday, Jamie Graham set a new record for the heaviest pumpkin with his 2,480-pound entry in the 38th annual All New England Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off at the Topsfield Fair in Topsfield, Massachusetts.

Graham, who is from Tyngsborough, Mass., bested the previous record of 2,294.5 pounds. His pumpkin, which he named Bear Swipe, will be on display at the fair until next Monday. "Currently it's the 4th biggest pumpkin in the world this year, and 11th biggest undamaged pumpkin ever grown," he wrote on Instagram. "It was an amazing surreal intense experience."

According to the Topsfield Fair website, it has held the Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off since 1984. During the debut contest, a Connecticut man collected the $100 prize with a 433 pound pumpkin. (Now, the minimum weight for Giant Pumpkin entries is 300 pounds.) This year, Graham took home an $8,500 cash prize for winning the Weigh-Off.

Nothing against Bear Swipe, but Scott Andrusz may have the Greatest pumpkin going right now. The Lancaster, New York farmer recently set a new North American record for the heaviest pumpkin, with a truly jaw-dropping 2,554-pound behemoth.

"Finally, just so incredible, it's the culmination of a lot of hard effort for me and my sons," he told Gothamist. "I love standing next to them to see them all. They're just so amazing to me."

As impressive as Graham's and Andrusz' pumpkins are, they're still slightly undersized compared to the 2,702-pounder that Stefano Cutrupi presented at the Campionato della Zuccone Festival in September 2021. That scale-smasher is the current Guinness World Record-holder for the World's Heaviest Pumpkin. "All the time dedicated to cultivation, to the search for new ideas, the time spent comparing myself with other growers, my sacrifices, and the sacrifices of those closest to me," Cutrupi told Guinness. "There were good moments but I also had to swallow bitter pills."