Oregon grower squashes rivals with ,385-pound pumpkin

PLEASANT HILL, Ore. — Growing the world's biggest pumpkin takes devotion, commitment and a competitive streak — all of which Steve Daletas has in spades.

Daletas, 43, hauled his gargantuan gourd to Canby Oct. 4 for a regional weigh-in hosted by Pacific Giant Vegetable Growers. That's when he discovered the 1,385-pound pumpkin had set a world record so far this year.

The title comes with bragging rights and a $2,000 purse. Chinook Winds Casino and other growers contributed an additional $1 per pound, for a total harvest of $3,385.

On Monday at Half Moon Bay, Calif., Daletas' smaller but still huge 1,180-pound pumpkin broke the 30th Annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off's previous record of 1,173 pounds set last year. Daletas received $5 per pound. The gigantic gourd recorded a height of 3 feet, 2 inches and a circumference of 14 feet, 4 inches.

A commercial pilot for Horizon Air, Daletas lives with his wife and two children on a 3-acre spread in Pleasant Hill. About 12,000 square feet is devoted to growing competitively huge pumpkins.

Giant pumpkins are generally too tough and stringy to eat, he said, adding that at least one has fed an elephant at the Oregon Zoo.

But growers have found plenty to do with mammoth vegetables.

At this year's competition in Pleasant Hill, Ore., organizers hoisted a monster pumpkin 100 feet in the air with a giant crane, then dropped it on a Volkswagen.

"It was a direct hit," Daletas said. "It went straight through the car, just crushed the thing."

Daletas also had a winner in the beauty category at Pleasant Hill: His comely 1,019-pounder took third place in a contest known as the Golden Globe.

"It's symmetrical. It's got nice grooves and a good salmon color," he said.

Daletas' world-class pumpkin is staying on display at Hoffman Dairy in Canby. The beauty-contest winner can be seen during harvest and Halloween celebrations at Bob and Lynn Schutte's Northern Lights Christmas Tree Farm.

Daletas usually gives his prize pumpkins to the Schuttes as thanks for helping him load his pumpkins with forklifts. "The kids are just going to be astounded," Lynn Schutte said.