World’s heaviest pumpkin, grown in Napa Valley, weighs more than 2,000 pounds

A pumpkin weighing 2,058 pounds won first prize at the annual heavyweight pumpkin contest in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Monday, reported the Associated Press.

It’s not quite big enough to fit Cinderella, but it’s close.

For the last 41 years, people have submitted their heaviest gourds to the Safeway annual pumpkin-weight contest in Northern California. This year, 56-year-old Napa Valley resident John Hawkley broke the contest record and won first prize for his pumpkin. Hawkley was awarded $6 a pound in prize money for a total of $12,348.

Hawkley told the Associated Press that he plans on using his winnings to repair the damage to his home caused by the Napa earthquake earlier this year.

Hawkley beat his runner-up by more than 300 pounds, and last year’s winner, also from Napa Valley, by 73 pounds. There were a total of 30 pumpkins submitted, all from California.

If you want to check out the giant pumpkin in person, it will be on display at the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival this weekend.

Guinness World Records lists the current world’s heaviest pumpkin at 2,032 pounds, submitted by Tim Mathison at the Uesugi Farms Pumpkin Park in Napa in October 2013.

I’m a firm believer that Halloween is not just for kids. Follow me on Twitter @Jenn_Harris_.