The record-breaking pumpkin at this year's Circleville Pumpkin Show weighs about as much as:
A) Ohio State University's starting defense
B) A 2-year-old elephant
C) A Mazda Miata
Correct answer: Any of the above.
A 2,455-pound behemoth grown by hometown contestant Troy VanArsdalen shattered the annual festival's record by 66½ pounds Oct. 22 and outweighed its closest 2026 competitor by almost 750 pounds, according to official tallies from organizers.
It was just the third time in Circleville Pumpkin Show history that the winning gourd topped one ton. The largest anywhere, ever, according to the Guiness Book of World Records, weighed 3,156 pounds and won the title Oct. 10 at the Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off in Warren, Rhode Island.
Guiness said it was the first pumpkin ever to top 3,000 pounds.
Back in central Ohio, the Circleville Pumpkin Show wraps up Oct. 24.
Follow Dispatch dining reporter Bob Vitale on Instagram at @dispatchdining. You can reach him directly at rvitale@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Circleville's 2,455-pound pumpkin is the biggest in contest history
