Woodburn Independent Online

Bauman Farms thrilled with Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off

Event raised $5,000 for Make-A-Wish Foundation

• By: Jason Horton  
• Published: 10/9/2009 4:51:45 PM

GERVAIS — The Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off, which took place last weekend at Bauman Farms, was deemed a huge success by organizers.

“I honestly don’t think it could have been any better,” Brian Bauman, retail manager of the farm said. “The weather was incredible and we have one of the biggest weigh offs in the country. The closest so far is one in Wisconsin, which had 80 entrants. We had a 105 pumpkins weighed.”

At the Bauman event, 12 pumpkins weighed in over 1,000 pounds with Thad Starr of Pleasant Hill bringing in the biggest at 1,462.5 pounds.

“This was the biggest weigh off (competitors) have ever had,” Bauman said. The competition had previously been held in Canby.

“Everyone seemed to have a really great time. They felt the event was run really well and the quality of the pumpkins that were there, were the best people had ever seen.”

Bauman said he hopes to host the event next year, too.

“We haven’t signed a contract yet, but it’s something we are definitely interested in doing again next year,” he said. “It was definitely a great weekend. Normally, the first weekend in October is one of our slowest, so it was good to get that bump.”

Bauman said they had around 5,000 people come through the farm on Saturday and a two-day total somewhere around 7,500.

“Sunday went down considerably, which makes sense,” he said. The pumpkin weigh off was Saturday.
The contest drew contestants from all over the Northwest, including British Columbia, Canada, Washington and Oregon.

Also, the farm raised over $5,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which is enough to grant a wish to someone.

“We are excited that we could raise that much and now we know for next year, that we will be able to help out a local child again,” Bauman said.

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