Europe's Heaviest Pumpkin Contest (Oct 3)

Thanks to one of my friends, Marcie, I heard about this interesting event in Belgium: Europe's Heaviest Pumpkin Contest. Another friend of mine, Dallas, and I, along with Reagan, decided to head to Pachthof Stroykens in Duisburg (about 20-30 minutes from Brussels) to check it out one lazy Sunday afternoon. I miss going to pumpkin patches and other Autumn outings back in the US; and I thought it would be fun to get some pictures of Reagan with some pumpkins. It proved to be quite unique with pumpkins larger than I've ever seen! Plus, they weren't just orange, some were picked quite early and still green or yellow since they wanted to be contenders in the 'Heaviest Pumpkin Contest'. After snapping some photos, we checked out some of the booths where they were giving samples of pumpkin liquor, bread and jam. We both ended up buying some pumpkin butter (jam) which was quite tasty and didn't last long in our household. Several people were enjoying the festivities over a glass of beer eagerly watching the weigh-in board as the pumpkins were weighed. When we left the heaviest pumpkin was at 322 kilograms (708 lbs), but later found out on their website that the winner was a whopping 617 kilograms (1,357 lbs)!

Thanks to Dallas for a few of the photos as she is known for her wonderful photography skills!

Waiting to get weighed

Reagan's first encounter with pumpkins, not too thrilled you can see!
Mother and daughter sharing a moment

Dallas with some of the contenders brought in by a trailer. They had to be hauled around on crates by forklifts

Man, these could make some killer pumpkin pies! Too bad they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here!

One booth was selling fresh garlic

Several smaller pumpkins and gourds were for sale

Huge pumpkin scarecrow was on the stage along with several other pumpkins

Dallas, Reagan and I checking out the pumpkins; however our photographer didn't seem to get too many in the background!

Reagan, a little happier this time amongst the pumpkins