On April 15, Ron Wallace tucked a small seed into the soil in his greenhouse in Greene, Rhode Island. Nearly six months later, that seed had grown into a massive pumpkin—one so big it would set a new world record.
On October 10, Wallace’s enormous gourd officially weighed in at 3,156 pounds at the Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Growers Weigh-Off, becoming the first pumpkin to ever top 3,000 pounds. Wallace now holds the Guinness World Record for the heaviest pumpkin, smashing the nearly 2,857-pound record set just a week earlier.
Wallace was introduced to the hobby by his dad, who he says was one of the first New Englanders to grow giant pumpkins, according to a statement. Decades later, he still loves seeing people’s reactions when they encounter one of these gargantuan gourds…