Our Hometown
WORLD'S LARGEST PUMPKIN
OCTOBER 2001: Leetonia pumpkin grower became the first man ever to win back-to-back world championship giant pumpkin growing first place awards and beating his old record. Dave Stelts of Leetonia named his great pumpkin "Fred" and took top honors at the championship giant pumpkin weight off at Parks Garden Center near Canfield. "Fred" weighed-in at 1,140 pounds and beat the old record by 87 pounds. The record weight was set last year and held by Stelts.
Last year Stelts was invited to appear on Regis Philbin Show in New York City but the pumpkin deteriorated during the trip and Philbin withdrew his invitation. Dave was very disappointed and promised he would be back with another championship entry next year. As of this writing, he is still waiting to hear from Regis this year.
The Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers, sponsors of this year's 7th annual contest, is comprised of 260 members and weigh-offs are held at 22 sites across the country to narrow the competition for the final championship weigh-off in Canfield. The hobby of growing giant pumpkins has been in existence for over 100 years and world record weights have nearly tripled in the past 20 years.
"Fred" and last years record breaker were raised on the farm where I grew up. Our farm was sold to the James Stelts, Dave's father, when we moved to Greenford in 1963. Jim also had an entry and it weighed-in at 955 pounds. The younger Stelts had faith in "Fred", but he submitted two additional entries, named Wally and Uggy (short for Ugly) just in case. These two giant pumpkins weighed in at a mere 900 pounds each. The smallest giant pumpkin in this year's contest weighted only 753 pounds.