Aurora Fire Rescue fire medic by day, state-record pumpkin grower by night, Brad Bledsoe recently grabbed the orange spotlight by growing Colorado’s largest pumpkin ever, and then beating that record twice just weeks later.
Bledsoe’s wife and children helped come up with names for the three gargantuan gourds in this year’s crop, Mary (1,955 lbs.), Winnifred (2,083 lbs.) and most recently Sarah (2,190 lbs.), named after the Sanderson sisters in the Disney movie “Hocus Pocus.” They grow them in a greenhouse at the family’s house.
“It gets [our family] together and we all have fun with it,” Bledsoe said.
The Bledsoe family, who began growing large pumpkins only three years ago in 2021, will get two of the three pumpkins back to make jack-o-lanterns out of with a chainsaw, before ultimately donating the fruits to become bison feed at Colorado State University.
Bledsoe’s secret to growing such a supersized squash?
“I’m not sure I’m doing anything different than anybody else. … We all talk fairly freely about what we’re doing, what products we’re using,” Bledsoe told The Denver Gazette. “I really think what sets it apart is the amount of time that I dedicate to it.”