By HERALD STAFF WRITER
Ella, named after Buddy Conley's two-year-old granddaughter Ella Clancy,
captured the Giant Pumpkin Contest at the Circleville Pumpkin Show.
The giant pumpkin, grown by Conley and Karen Wiget of Laurelville,
weighed 1,324 pounds and was the largest in the 41 entries Wednesday and one
of four giants that bested the 1,000 pound mark. Eleven days earlier, the
pumpkin won the weigh-off in Chillicothe. It weighed 1,333.5 pounds at that
time.
The champion giant was pulled up Main Street on a trailer with its
sibling, Sara, which weighed 1,167 pounds and finished in second place. Sara
was named in memory of the late Sara Bloom of Laurelville.
Conley and Wiget name their pumpkins, grown from different genetic
stock, each year so they can be tended independently.
To commemorate the 100th Pumpkin Show, the couple also wanted to have
the wagon drawn by a team of horses. However, Pumpkin Show Inc. did not want
to handle the clean up.
They borrowed a 1952 Farmall tractor owned and restored by Marilyn
Evans, South Bloomfield, and operated by fellow grower Joe Gerchy. The
tractor was purchased new by her grandfather, the late Harry A. Keller.
The tractor and trailer is expected to pull the winning giant through
Saturday night's final parade, Conley said. If their two giants are not
purchased when Pumpkin Show ends, they plan to return them to their
Laurelville home for display.
The couple plans to haul them to downtown Laurelville for the begger's
night celebration before harvesting seeds.
Third place was earned by Larry Schaffer of Chillicothe with a 1,118
pound giant.
Schaffer started growing giants in the 1970s, primarily as competition
to the small group of local growers who dominated the competition. It began
a 10-year run of seven Pumpkin Show winners.
After a 41-year careen with Chillicothe Paper Company (Mead), he
retired. And, because of increasing damage to the giants from marauding deer
and ground hogs, he retired from competition as well.
Two years ago, however, he regained the competitive spirit thanks in
part to an eight-foot tall fence he installed around his garden.
Fourth place grower was Tracey Miller, the daughter of last year's
champion Ken Speakman and a first-timer.
Her giant, once the smallest in Speakman's patch which he shared with
his neighbor Sherman Dixon and grandson Caleb Miller, weighed 1,099.5
pounds.
The first grade teacher at Washington Elementary School plans to try
again next year to capture the big prize.
Fifth place winner was seven-year-old Gunner Hall, who grew a 1,061.5
pounder in the garden of his grandfather Mark Lutz.
The record giant pumpkin was 1,353 pounds grown by Dr. Robert Liggett
for the 2004 Pumpkin Show. It was the first giant to crest the 1,000 pound
mark.
Liggett won the event 1994-1996 and again in 2002 with a 935 pound
giant.
Last year's winner was Ken Speakman with a giant weighing 951.5 pounds.
Conley won the top prize in 1999 with a pumpkin weighing 617 pounds and
repeated in 2001 with an 897 pound pumpkin.
Wiget won in 1997 with a 516.5 pound giant.
For the record, Joel Holland won the recent giant pumpkin competition in
Half Moon Bay, Calif., with a 1, 223 pound entry. The largest pumpkin grown
in the U.S. this year was a 1,502 giant by Ken Wallace of Rhode Island.
| 2006 Pumpkin Weigh In |
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