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A California grower’s 2,346-pound pumpkin was dubbed the top gourd at the 2025 Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-off in Half Moon Bay, Calif.
Santa Rosa man Brandon Dawson, whose 2,465-pound pumpkin was the runner-up in 2024’s weigh-off, took the top spot at this year’s event.
Travis Gienger, who won last year’s contest with a 2,471-pound pumpkin, said the pumpkin he attempted to grow for this year’s weigh-off ended up splitting earlier in the season, so he attended the 2025 event to cheer on his friends as a spectator.
Dawson was awarded a $21,114 prize — $9 per pound of pumpkin.
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The weigh-off offers a $30,000 bonus prize if the winner breaks the world record, a feat Gienger achieved when he won the 2023 competition with a pumpkin that tipped the scales at 2,749 pounds.
