By Max Levy
The Denver Post
AURORA, Colo. — An Aurora firefighter’s prodigious pumpkin was recognized as the heaviest ever grown in the state of Colorado on Saturday, topping the list at more than a ton.
The lord among gourds — named Winifred Sanderson after the character of the same name from the 1993 film “Hocus Pocus” — weighed in at 2,083 pounds when it hit the scale at the Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off held Saturday at Nick’s Garden Center in Aurora.
Fire medic Brad Bledsoe said 2024 marks his family’s third year growing competition-sized pumpkins on their property in Fort Collins.
The former plant nursery employee described carefully managing the growing process, from measuring the nutrients present in the soil, to researching the genetics of the Atlantic giant pumpkin seed used, to watering his plant every day.
“It’s a whole can of worms,” Bledsoe said.
He said his friend brought a skid steer to help load the pumpkin onto a trailer that Bledsoe used to haul Winifred Sanderson from Fort Collins to Aurora.
“It was my favorite thing to do, was driving with the pumpkin and seeing people’s faces light up,” he said. “You can see the curiosity, like people asking if it’s even real and asking if they can take pictures with it.”
Aurora Fire Rescue announced in a news release and Nick’s Garden Center confirmed that the pumpkin took first prize at the weigh-in organized by The Great Pumpkin Commonwealth.
Bledsoe claimed Colorado’s pumpkin record earlier this year with the first of three competition-sized pumpkins, named Mary Sanderson after another of the Sanderson sisters from “Hocus Pocus,” which weighed in at 1,955 pounds.
The record was briefly taken by another grower last month before Bledsoe took it back with the first Colorado pumpkin to weigh more than a ton Saturday. A third competition-sized pumpkin grown by Bledsoe, Sarah Sanderson, is slated to be weighed in Fort Collins on Oct. 12.
As for the heaviest recorded jack-o’-lantern, Bledsoe said Travis Gienger’s world-record-breaking pumpkin was carved into one in 2023.
“But, there’s always next year,” Bledsoe said.
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