Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival

Alive in #halfmoonbay #peace #good #brotherhood

They’re a shining point of light in every community and now the wonderful members of the San Mateo County Association of Realtors (SAMCAR) are giving a big boost to the Pumpkin Power Project PPP Support Fund with a generous $20k donation which will be matched, as all donations will be, by Joseph W. Cotchett’s $100k matching fund. 100% of donations will be going to replace the lost funding to the Coastside community service organizations that rely on the fund-raising opportunity that has been provided by the Pumpkin Festival for 50 years but has been lost this year. You can donate securely on-line https://pumpkinfest.miramarevents.com/support or by sending a check to the HMB Beautification Commitee, PO Box 274, Half Moon Bay CA 94019.

Massive gratitude to all of the growers, GPC members and supporters that joined us in Half Moon Bay for Monday’s 47th Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off! We truly enjoy seeing all of you each and every year and so appreciate all of the work you put into being the very best in the world at the craft of nurturing and growing giant pumpkins! It was a spectacularly special day in every way, with an even deeper meaning and purpose this year bringing a much-needed positive, feel-good, uplifting story to humankind. Let's do it again in 2021 on Monday, October 11! #giantpumpkins #bigpumpkins #halfmoonbay #HMBPumpkinFest #miramarevents#gpc #safeway #longbranchfarms

Today, gearing up for All Hallows Eve, our friend and 2020 HMB weigh-off kingpin Travis Gienger of Halloween Capital Anoka MN had his rhinoceros-sized mega gourd (named The Tiger King) carved into the largest jack-o-lantern of all time and the Guinness world record folks are there to certify it (and hopefully toss a few back with our man Travis)! This now world record carved jack-o-lantern rocked the scale at 2350 lbs, the heaviest pumpkin weighed in North America this year! Congrats to Travis! #giantpumpkins #bigpumpkins #halfmoonbay #HMBPumpkinFest #miramarevents#gpc #safeway

Today would normally be Miramar Events monster, frenetic pace set-up day, building the very special village of Pumpkintown in preparation for the world’s biggest and best Celebration of the Great Gourd - the Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival. For me that is what I’ve done on this day for the past 34 years and it has been the honor and privilege of my life to help nurture, polish and take good care of this community crown jewel. Oh how we’ll miss seeing your smiling faces enjoying our always super fun, feel-good festival this year but let’s forge on with great hope and optimism for a brighter future and treat each other with random acts of kindness each and every day!

Massive gratitude to all of the growers, GPC members and supporters that joined us in Half Moon Bay for Monday’s 47th Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off! We truly enjoy seeing all of you each and every year and so appreciate all of the work you put into being the very best in the world at the craft of nurturing and growing giant pumpkins! It was a spectacularly special day in every way, with an even deeper meaning and purpose this year bringing a much-needed positive, feel-good, uplifting story to humankind. Let's do it again in 2021 on Monday, October 11! #giantpumpkins #bigpumpkins #halfmoonbay #HMBPumpkinFest #miramarevents#gpc #safeway #longbranchfarms

Take a few minutes and re-live the final weighing of Travis Gienger's champion pumpkin The Tiger King", along with an interview filmed early in the morning before the competition began. Congratulations, Travis, and we hope you have a safe and happy drive back to Anoka, Minnesota!

Please enjoy and share the photo album by Igor Porton, official photographer for Miramar Events, with images taken during the 47th Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off at Long Branch Farms in Half Moon Bay CA 10/12/20! https://photos.app.goo.gl/7p4Bv21uPSFe8UZDA #giantpumpkins #bigpumpkins #halfmoonbay #HMBPumpkinFest #miramarevents#gpc #safeway #longbranchfarms

Big thanks to Cameron Palmer and Kevin Frink, BBQ masters, for feeding the weigh-off growers, their families, press, and our weigh-off crew and to Kevin Palmer and family for being our gracious hosts, embracing our doing this year’s weigh-off at their spectacular Long Branch Farms! These people represent the very best of Half Moon Bay! #giantpumpkins #bigpumpkins #halfmoonbay #HMBPumpkinFest #miramarevents#gpc #safeway #longbranchfarms

Our friend and GPC statitician Vince Zunino sent us a note with something Half Moon Bay can be proud of: According to my unofficial calculations the Half Moon Bay Top 10 Average of 1,871.7 lbs. beats every other weigh off site in the world this year. I believe it also ranks number 4 all time. The top ten average per GPC rules includes exhibition pumpkins so Leonardo's 2nd exhibition pumpkin should be included in the top ten calculation. #giantpumpkins #bigpumpkins #halfmoonbay #HMBPumpkinFest #miramarevents#gpc #safeway #LongBranchFarms

One of the popular parts of this year's livestream of the weigh-off was the unique perspective provided by Steve Maller's drone as the day progressed. Here are ...a few photos from the air. It's interesting to see the size of these amazing gourds! If you missed it live and want to skim through the recordings, you can do that here: https://youtu.be/IasU7dUMpfQ (part 1) and https://youtu.be/HuyJKeMpLnc (part 2). We had a glitch in the internet connection and had to re-start the stream a couple hours in. Oh well...technology! See more

We missed having y’all with us on-site but wanted to share a piece of the weigh-off joy and happiness with our people!

There’s joy today and perhaps forever in Inoka MN, hometown of the 2020 Half Moon Bay weigh-off King, Travis Gienger, a grower built from solid Minnesota timber. Let us go forth, get better air in our lungs and celebrate his greatness! The game of weighing Godzilla Gourds is glorious!

Top 10 at the 2020 Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off on a picture perfect day in Half Moon Bay CA! #giantpumpkins #bigpumpkins #halfmoonbay #HMBPumpkinFest #miramarevents gpc #safeway #longbranchfarms

Travis Gienger of Anoka MN is our new champion with a rhinoceros-sized mega gourd he named The Tiger King that rocked the scale at 2350 lbs, the heaviest pumpkin weighed in North America this year! He takes home a massive smile, an unforgettable memory and a super hefty $16,450 as the 2020 Pumpkin King of Half Moon Bay! Congrats to Travis! #giantpumpkins #bigpumpkins #halfmoonbay #HMBPumpkinFest #miramarevents#gpc #safeway

Our main man Melvin Mello Jr. keeps it all humming! His father started it all, launching the weigh-off 47 years ago! Thanks Mello family...what a legacy!

Superstar grower Steve Daletas now leads the pack at 2174-lbs! He has won HMB four times - let’s see if this one holds up as we have one more to go - Travis Gienger’s rhino-gourd! THIS MORNING: Livestream the action on our weigh-off Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/halfmoonbaypumpkinweighoff/ and catch Half Moon Bay’s 47th Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off, Monday, October 12, 7am to 11am, Long Branch Farms! Godzilla gourds abound, sadly no spectators this year. #giantpumpkins #bigpumpkins #halfmoonbay #HMBPumpkinFest #miramarevents gpc #safeway #longbranchfarms