California Farmer Sets Record For Largest US Pumpkin

Some folks are just, well, obsessed. Captain Ahab had his whale, for example, and John Hawkley has his...pumpkins. That's right, after more than 30 years of professional pumpkin competition, Hawkley, a California farmer, set the record for the heaviest pumpkin ever grown in the USA.

'We knew that our's was definitely a contender,' said John. It turned out to be more than that: At 2,058 pounds and measuring nearly 20 feet in circumference, it was the all time American champ!

Hawkley's record pumpkin barely edged out fellow Californians Peter and Cindi Glasier. Just a couple of days earlier they set a short lived US record with a pumpkin weighing in at 2,036.

But on the world stage both fall woefully short. The world record belongs Beni Meier of Switzerland. Earlier this year Meier set two new records with pumpkins weighing in at 2,102 and 2,323 pounds.