HALF MOON BAY, Calif.—A Minnesota horticulture teacher remained the reigning champion Monday of an annual pumpkin-weighing contest in Northern California where his massive gourds have won the top prize four years in a row.
Travis Gienger, of Anoka, Minnesota, beat his closest competitor by 6 pounds to clinch the victory at the 51st World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco.
His winning gourd came in at 2,471 pounds, falling short of the world record he set last year with a pumpkin weighing 2,749 pounds.
Gienger, 44, said that as he has done in the past, he focused on having healthy soil and well-fed plants but that a cold fall with record-breaking rain likely impacted his pumpkin’s growth….