Pumpkin glory: Washington schoolteacher Tobeck wins weigh-off with 1,910-pounder

Tobeck relished in her gorgeously misshapen gargantuan gourd by taking the opportunity to ride in on the massive pumpkin, which required a forklift and heavy-duty moving straps to transport.

An Olympia, Washington, resident, she said winning the Half Moon Bay competition was a lifelong dream since she first saw a giant pumpkin as a kindergartner. On Monday, the 42-year-old third-grade teacher and horse trainer hopped aboard her monstrous gourd to celebrate her moment of infamy.

“I am just elated, over the moon! This was my biggest pumpkin fantasy,” Tobeck said before adding she lovingly named her champ “Orange Crush.”

Tobeck’s crowned victor, along with other monstrous gourds from the weigh-off, will be on display during this weekend’s pumpkin festival, which is expected to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors throughout the two-day celebration of everything orange.

Half Moon Bay’s beauties packed a weighty punch, but they were far from breaking the world record — which a Belgian grower set Sunday with a 2,623-pound pumpkin.

Along with the victory of achieving a childhood goal, Tobeck became the second woman to ever win the supreme title and the first to do so in 19 years. She’s taking home $11,460 in prize money and her pumpkin Orange Crush will be featured at a Las Vegas casino after Half Moon Bay’s festival. But its glory could live on as Tobeck said the seeds may be used to grow new giant pumpkins in the future.

Russ Pingrey, a Santa Rosa grower, clocked in a 1,723-pounder and took home $2,000 for second place, as well as $1,000 for bringing the largest California-grown gourd.

“It’s been good, I’ve got my biggest pumpkin ever,” Pingrey said.

Noting the yearslong drought, Pingrey said he’s slowly cut back to growing about half as many pumpkins as he would normally. Instead of using an estimated 30,000 gallons a month to quench six massive pumpkins, Pingrey said he’s down to growing just three a year in response to the paltry weather.

The two most recent champions opted to sit out this year’s competition. John Hawkley, a Napa grower who set the local record in 2014 with a 2,058-pounder; and last year’s champ Steve Daletas, who took the 2015 title with a 1,969-pound pumpkin, opted not to compete.

Daletas said this year he decided to indulge in is his other passion, fishing; as well as some overdue household chores. But attending the annual event held on Main Street is about more than just competing, it’s about “hanging out with your friends,” the Oregon resident said.

Plus, the social gathering for these elite growers is a chance to consider how high the bar has been set — 2,623 pounds.

“For there to be a new world record, for a lot of us it showed we aren’t done seeing big pumpkins. What’s the plateau? We don’t know,” Daletas said. “But that just showed us it’s 300 pounds heavier than we every thought it would be. So, we’re like, ‘if he can do it, we can do it!’”

Overseeing the international prestige of growing big gourds is the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth, which is responsible for ensuring nearly there’s a level playing field, no matter where you compete, said grower Jim Sherwood.

“This isn’t just California, this isn’t just this little community, people know about these pumpkins all around the world. So they’re all getting weighed and measured and we want them all to be treated exactly the same, so that a pumpkin half way across the world is treated exactly the same,” Sherwood said.

The West Coast representative and treasurer of the commonwealth’s 11-member board, came in third place at Monday’s competition with an 1,699-pound pumpkin he grew in Oregon. His was one of nearly 4,000 pumpkins that compete every year across 113 competitions, Sherwood said.

Other than a flair for competition and a willingness to get a little dirty, the contenders all agreed the winning combination is hard work, good soil and supreme genetics — that’s seeds of course.

Tobeck said she’s interested in the science behind what makes these behemoths grow. After planting on April 15 — tax day is pumpkin day she chuckled — she pollinated it about a month later and by August, it was gaining 40 pounds a day.

A schoolteacher and competitive horse trainer who recently won a national championship, Tobeck said she’s been on fire this year.

“If I can be national champion and then a couple weeks later become Half Moon Bay world pumpkin champion, I might just die,” Tobeck said, shortly before weigh-off.

Plus she emphasized, it’s been a childhood dream to compete in this local “Super Bowl of giant pumpkin weigh-offs.”

Sherwood noted these events are about more than this year’s winner; it’s about inspiring future generations of growers.

“If you can add two or three people out of a crowd like this any given year that maybe want to start trying to do this, then it’s a win,” Sherwood said. “Because you can’t look at a giant pumpkin and not smile, and that’s literally what it’s all about.”

Giant gourds will be on display for this year’s Half Moon Bay Pumpkin & Art Festival, which runs 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 15-16. Visit pumpkinfest.miramarevents.com for more information.