WORLAND — Pumpkin guts spewed across the Washakie County Fairgrounds with wet, echoing thuds and squeals of joy at Saturday’s 2024 Wyoming State Pumpkin Weigh-Off and Oktoberfest.
After crowning this year’s state giant pumpkin champions, the huge squashes were hoisted 175 feet into the air and dropped, exploding spectacularly.
The drop followed the competitive weigh-in of 18 pumpkins, plus watermelons, giant zucchinis and other squash.
Lovell’s Chad Kurtenbach took the $1,000 grand prize for his 1,254-pound pumpkin, which he accomplished after just three years of practice.
“I set a higher goal this year, and I'll probably set a higher one next year,” Kurtenbach said. "I made a lot of mistakes this year with breaking vines and bad fertilizer mix, and dropped it yesterday, but none of them were fatal.”
Seven of Kurtenbach’s competitors elected to drop their pumpkins from the grip of a 175-foot crane, striking the ground and a clothes dryer. Each drop led up to a 1,285-pound pumpkin striking a wooden cutout of Looney Tunes character Wile E. Coyote, which broke into pieces.
The event is the brainchild of Jay Richard, also known as Wyoming's Pumpkin King. He’s known to grow humongous pumpkins and encourages others to grow them too.
“The title of pumpkin king? I just shake my head when I hear it, because no,” Richard said. “Pumpkin ambassador. Let's go with that.”
Six years ago, Richard pushed to have the weigh-off sanctioned by the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth (GPC), which means Worland’s pumpkins can set national records if they get huge enough.
The Competition
An estimated 2,000 people watched as forklifts carefully set the gargantuan gourds on the GPC-certified scale. Growers grinned proudly as they waited to see their pumpkins weighed off.
Local growers had a hard growing season, with just under 70 days between spring and fall frosts.
Still, even Wyoming kids were able to achieve impressive pumpkins, like 10-year-old Joley Reid, whose gourd named Annie Oakley weighed 371 pounds, earning her first place for kid growers.
Every contestant poured hundreds of hours of work into their squashes, which can grow up to 50 pounds a day.
“You don't accidentally grow one of these,” Richard said. “They don't occur in nature. They have to be nurtured into this state.”
It all depends on the seed, soil, weather and the work, Richard said.
Many of the more successful pumpkins were grown from seeds from previous Worland champion pumpkins, but winner Kurtenbach bought his seeds from a specialty grower in Wisconsin.
Once weigh-ins completed, the crowd turned to the main event.
Children survey the damage after a giant pumpkin impacted a cutout of Wile E. Coyote on Oct. 5, 2024. (Cowboy State Daily Staff) 
Event organizer Jay Richard kisses a cutout of Wile E. Coyote prior to it being obliterated by a giant pumpkin on Oct. 5, 2024. (Cowboy State Daily Staff) 
A cutout of Wile E. Coyote awaits its fate at the Washakie Fairgrounds on Oct. 5, 2024. (Cowboy State Daily Staff) 
A 1,285-pound pumpkin is raised by a crane in preparation to be dropped on a cutout of Wile E. Coyote on Oct. 5, 2024. (Cowboy State Daily Staff) 
A cutout of Wile E. Coyote awaits a giant pumpkin to be dropped from above on Oct. 5, 2024. (Cowboy State Daily Staff) 
A banner promoting the Wyoming State Champion Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off is pictured outside the Washakie Fairgrounds on Oct. 5, 2024. (Cowboy State Daily Staff)
The Drop
Swing Trucking’s donated crane drops the pumpkins, which pick up speed and hit whatever’s under them with more than 100,000 pounds of force, obliterating anything in its path, Richard said.
In previous years, the event has smashed things like a piano, vehicles and even an RV.
The drop makes a deep bass sound, like a drum, said attendee Wes Linster and his three children Oscar, Faye and Hadden.
“This is our second year, I think, we've been coming,” Linster said. “We came in last year. It's just fun. It's kind of neat.”
Until Next Year
With the final pumpkin thud and an obliterated Wile E. Coyote, children stormed the wreckage to pick out seeds as a souvenir, or to save and grow their own monster squashes.
Then, the all-volunteer clean-up crew were set loose on the dirt arena, marking the end of this year’s festival.
Each year, the event has grown larger, outgrowing four venues so far, Richard said. Aside from the $20 registration fee, the event is free to enter, and Richard plans to keep it that way.
“The reality is, we wouldn't do it if we didn't have anybody to play in the sandbox with,” Richard said. “So, we want to thank everybody for coming out.”
Reilly Strand can be reached at: Reilly@CowboyStateDaily.com
