A letter to the most appreciated volunteers in the whole wide world,

Now that the weigh off season has passed us by and our harvest is almost over, I want to take a moment of your time to recap another banner year. Our 4th Annual Big Sky Giant Pumpkin Growers Weigh Off was a great success again but for different reasons, this year. Due to cool, wet weather throughout the spring our Atlantic Giant plants had a rough start; then it got downright hot during the pollination phase that caused more challenges. While many seasoned growers came up empty handed it was a notable year for “PBs” – that is, Personal Bests! Over 66% of our growers attained a pumpkin weight better than their previous personal record.

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t in our favor on our weigh off day as it was mighty wet and mighty cold. As you’d expect our spectator numbers were down but the weather didn’t deter the growers. To my thinking, if they grow one, they will come! Rare is the successful grower of giant pumpkins that does not seek an opportunity to show off their bounty! And show off we did.

We were very pleased to have a couple families from Idaho join our event this year and raise the bar for Montanan growers. This year we set a new site record for heaviest pumpkin as well as set a new Montana State record. With terrific help from a handful of volunteers we conducted the smoothest running event yet.

Thank you one and all for making this all possible,

Kim