Grand prize pumpkin weighs in at 715 pounds

Another state record-breaking pumpkin won the fifth annual Giant Pumpkin Contest at the Fall Festival at Lattin Farms in Fallon.

Scott Goodpasture, of Pioneer Farms, took grand prize with a 715-pound pumpkin Saturday in the Lattin Farms/HFI Enterprises Giant Pumpkin Contest.

Goodpasture broke his state record earned at last year's Lattin contest with a 340-pound pumpkin.

His pumpkin came in fourth in the California competition, beating out 50 other giant pumpkins. Goodpasture said the 2000 world record is held by an Ohio grower whose pumpkin weighed in at 1,140 pounds - about the same as a half-ton pickup truck.

Goodpasture, who's been growing pumpkins for eight years, spent at least an hour a day for the past 10 months nurturing his pumpkin. The huge squash is an offspring of an 850-pound pumpkin from a past harvest.

"Needless to say, we are greatly pleased with Scott's entry," said B. Ann Lattin, owner and operator of Lattin Farms. "And we are delighted for Scott. Every year we're both surprised and delighted with the entries we receive."

The Fall Festival continues this weekend with a Scarecrow Factory. Pick-Your-Own Pumpkin Patch and the Nevada Maze are open daily. Moonlight Mazes run Friday and Saturday nights through October.