A 1,711-Pound Pumpkin, Disqualified by a Soft Spot
Jeff Warner strapped his 1,711-pound pumpkin to a trailer and set off for Port Elgin Pumpkinfest earlier this month. The Englehart, Ont., grower knew a top prize wasn't guaranteed, but he was hoping for a shot. Instead he was disqualified, and the culprit was a soft spot. A soft spot sounds like a small thing. It isn't, when the thing around it weighs 1,711 pounds.
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Pumpkin growing is one of the few competitions where the scoreboard is literally a scale — and where the disqualifying flaw can be something you'd find by pressing a thumb into it.
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The hauling is the underrated part. Those 1,711 pounds had to be strapped down and driven to Port Elgin before any judge laid eyes on the thing.