By MIKE PRATT
The Herald

About 25 giant pumpkin growers paraded down East Main Street Wednesday to see how their prize pumpkins would rank, as decided by the scales. In the end, those scales tipped in favor of Chillicothe's Dean Park, who established a Pumpkin Show record with his 950 pound pumpkin, nearly 200 pounds heavier than second place.

Top to bottom, each grower appeared proud.

"If you can get a 300 pound pumpkin to the Pumpkin Show you have to be proud of it because it is a lot of work just to get one here, no matter what size it is," said Buddy Conley, whose 755 pound entry earned him second place. "They are just as proud of them as I am of this one."

"This is the time we've been waiting for all year," said Yellowbud's Roger Kline, who watched the scales stop at 493 pounds on his entry. "I wish they'd give the prize to the prettiest pumpkin. I'd win."

Park had a different idea.

"I got third place (666 pounds) and the prettiest pumpkin," he said jokingly. Asked about Kline's claim, Park said, "No, he wouldn't."

New this year, each entrant received a medallion for participating.

Pumpkin Show organizers also awarded cash prizes to the winners: $1,000 for the grand champion; $750 for second; $400 for third; $200 for fourth; and $50 each to the next 10 places.

This year concessionaires fattened the first place prize with an additional $1,000 and a concessionaires' trophy.

"This is absolutely my finest (pumpkin) ever," Park said. "I haven't slept in two weeks."

Like other growers, Park had some problems during a wet growing season. For one, he fertilized through water.

"But I couldn't water because it rained so much," he said.

About a week ago, Park entered his grand champion in a Chillicothe contest, where it weighed 965 pounds.

"I kind of wish I'd waited (for Circleville Pumpkin Show)," he said. "I might have had a 1,000 pounder."

He took a deep breath.

"Nine hundred fifty is all right," he said.

Conley and Karen Wiget share the glory in both their entries (755 and 508 pounders), trying the seed of a 1,074 pound Youngstown champion.

"Normally, I don't plant a new seed," Conley said. "But (the Youngstown pumpkin) was exceptionally beautiful and it weighed good, so I took a chance on it."

"I started out with seven plants and I was down to two," Conley said. "I had soil disease because of all the wetness this year, losing one after another. I was just hoping I could hang on to one (pumpkin) to bring here."

Kingston's John Pontius placed fourth with 632 1/2 pound pumpkin.

"We had trouble getting started because of the wet, cold season, but I was fortunate because mine was in a greenhouse and on raised beds, so rain didn't bother me early," he said.

This year was Pontius' best effort in five years.

Ken Speakman knew he was in contention for the $200 fourth prize, but came up four pounds short.

"I was along the creek, with good drainage and I really didn't have any problems," he said. "The biggest problem I had was it matured three weeks early, so it hasn't grown in three weeks."

"It still beats all my expectations," Speakman said.

Many giant pumpkin growers admit they started growing giants for their grandchildren.

Circleville's Mike Bell and his granddaughter, Brooklyn Keaton grew a 494 pound pumpkin.

It's Bell's fourth year and his best effort.

"We just put it in our garden and let it grow," he said.

Brent Ebert and 3 year old Cord Ebert, raised a 539 1/2 pounder.

Cord, who lives in Logan Elm Village, visited Ebert's Laurelville farm every Friday to water and fertilize their pumpkin.

"This was our first," Ebert said.

The amazing thing is it was grown in a back yard no bigger than two pick-up trucks, he said.

"Cord wanted to have the biggest pumpkin in Logan Elm Village, so we thought we'd try one," Ebert said.

Pontius, too, started growing giants for his grandchildren.

"Having my grand kids with me is special," he said. "That's really why I started growing them."

Caleb Miller, 12, and his younger brother Nick, are among Circleville Pumpkin Show's youngest growers.

Caleb's first solo effort produced a 468 pounder, with Nick's coming in at 339 pounds.

But they, too, admit they had a lot of help from their grandfather, Ken Speakman.

"I don't know really how much work I put into it, but I worked a lot during the summer before school started," Caleb said.

Miller said he will probably continue growing giants as long as his grandfather keeps doing it.

One of the greatest heartbreaks of the 2003 giant pumpkin weigh-in was the dropping of Dr. Robert Liggett's prize. Though it was not counted in competition, it weighed 664 1/2 pounds.

"We had a little problem this morning loading it," Liggett said. "When we lifted, it shifted and the rope slipped out and the pumpkin broke. It wasn't really a happy feeling, but it's one of those things where I was pretty confident I wouldn't have the biggest one this year.

"But it's one of those things that happen and we learn from things like that," he said.

Liggett's second entry registered 594 1/2 pounds.

Most growers' took notice of the two pumpkins grown by first-year growers, South Bloomfield's Joe Gerchy and Roger Evans. Their two pumpkins, 597 and 568 pounds, grew on the same vine.

"This vine just about died, but it took off on its own and it was the only one we had left," Gerchy said. "I have time to put to these and Roger always wanted to grow them so we partnered on it."

"We ended up with one vine and actually, both these pumpkins grew on the same vine," he said. "People are pretty amazed by that."

Evans said he will always wonder what might have happened if he and his partner had gone with only one pumpkin on the vine.

The 10 winners after fourth place were: Speakman, Evans, Liggett, Gerchy, Chuck and Diane Geiger, Tim Geiger, Brent Ebert, Conley and Wiget, Bell and Kline.

Trophies add special touch to weigh-in...

By SHAUNA GOODHART
The Herald

It's Circleville's answer to the Stanley Cup.

The Circleville Pumpkin Show Concessionaires Trophy for the Largest Pumpkin made its debut Wednesday after the pumpkin weigh-in, proving pumpkins aren't the only things capable of stealing the show.

Karl Dearwester is a third generation concessionaire and has operated the ring toss game on East Main Street for 13 years. He said he has watched contestants in the largest pumpkin contest line the street in front of his booth year after year and decided the participants < especially those that don't get the glory that comes with having the largest pumpkins deserved more recognition.

"We needed to do better than that," he said, commenting on the time and energy that goes into growing each pumpkin.

Dearwester, in a move to inspire other concessionaires, offered to donate money for trophies and medals for growers. He teamed with members of the Pumpkin Show Committee to spread the word and was able to generate enough money to purchase some tokens of appreciation. Among them is a trophy that will bear the names of the champion pumpkin grower each year and will remain the property of the Pumpkin Show, a take-home trophy for the winner and participation medals for everyone in the contest.

While the trophies allow the concessionaires to honor the growers, they also show the group's pride toward the festival. He said All Around Awards in Bellefontaine crafted the souvenirs and "put together a trophy everybody can be proud of."

In addition to raising funds for the trophies, the concessionaires generated enough money to contribute to the grand prize jackpot. The group matched the Pumpkin Show committee's prize of $1,000, bringing the check for the grand champion grower to $2,000.

Dr. Robert Liggett, pumpkin grower and 2002 grand prize winner, said he is honored to have his name engraved at the top of the trophy. He received his $1,000 prize from the concessionaires last year when he entered the winning pumpkin, but the trophy was not yet available. This year though, he was presented with a take-home version to represent his years of hard work in the garden.

"I think they did a great job," Liggett said of the efforts put forth by the Pumpkin Show Committee and the concessionaires. "I think it's great they recognize each individual grower."

Liggett has grown prize-winning pumpkins for several years, but said he might not be producing gigantic pumpkins 10 years from now. It's all right with him. He'll have a trophy at home to remind him of "the good old days." Likewise, Liggett said the trophy bearing names of winners will serve as a record for future generations.

"It's just a great thing for pumpkin growers."