Page 54 • October 26, 2011 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT GUIDE
Giant Pumpkin Growers Have Their Day at Frerichs Farm By Jay Adams
it. It’s not for the faint of heart when they move these massive things,” added Frerichs. “This is serious lifting power,” he continued. “The lifting devices can’t be flimsy. Some folks use a forklift to lift the pumpkins on to palates because they’re digging up 1,600-pound pumpkins. We just had a 2,000-pound pumpkin but it had a little defect on it and it blew. It would have set a world record.”
CEG CORRESPONDENT
Across New England pumpkin growers have been readying their entries for Pumpkin Palooza and the Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off at Frerichs Farm in Warren, R.I. Six months of nurturing fruit weighing hundreds of pounds and devising ways to transport these giants unharmed to the contests is in itself almost a full-time job. Grown from April into October, the pumpkins must be babysat for hours each day. One imperfection or rot spot and they are disqualified from competition. The Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off at Frerichs Farm is about to celebrate its 11th anniversary, but the event was originally started some years before that in Smithfield, R.I., by John Castalucci, good friends of Frerichs Farm owner Dave Frerichs. “He started growing the first giant pumpkins on his farm,” said Frerichs. “I said to him, ‘I want to lift those giants with a crane here and then drop them filled with candy. And he said to me, What? You want me to grow these things for five months, raise them and then smash them on the ground?’ He thought I was crazy. Then, he thought about it and said okay. “When he saw how we carried out the idea, he said, ‘Wow! You really do a nice job.’ He only had six acres in Smithfield. We have 13 acres here, more equipment, more room, bigger crowds.” Frerichs is an internationally registered weigh site and some of the winners at the Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off have been registered in the Guinness Book of World Records. Other entrants at Frerichs have named it Number One nationally for collective giants. There are thousands of dollars to be won in this competition and, of course, bragging rights. Two decades ago, 600 pounds was considered a champ, then 1,000, then, a 1,500-pounder at Frerichs Farms got international attention. Now the Holy Gourd is up to a ton. Each pumpkin can only be lifted and weighed once, which is why farmers raise several at a time. Tripod, Hoists, Ropes Pumpkin growers from all over the country share tips and secrets, but Frerichs said, “It’s Rhode Island genetics that are growing these giant pumpkins all over the country. It’s the seeds from our giants that everyone wants. The circle keeps getting bigger, along with the pumpkins. “Competitors devise their own tall tripod with pipes to move them,” said Frerichs. “They have actually invented a cinch method. There is a ring on top, with multiple straps sewn on. The ropes go through the straps. “Then they tie a big ring around the pumpkin and put chains around it. They raise the pumpkin up high, back a vehicle underneath it and lower
Growers have actually invented a cinch method. There is a ring on top, with multiple straps sewn on. The ropes go through the straps. Then they tie a big ring around the pumpkin and put chains around the whole device. They raise the pumpkin up high, back a vehicle underneath it and lower it.
Bobcats and Gantry Cranes Steve Connolly of Sharon, Mass., uses all of his growing and engineering skills to raise, weigh, lift, move and secure his giant gourds. Connolly is a plastics engineer at a medical company called DePuy for Johnson & Johnson. For more than a decade he has been developing bigger and bigger contestants. In 2000, Connolly grew the first 1,000-pound pumpkin in New England (1009.6 lbs.). “I brought it to the Topsfield Fair in Topsfield, Mass., and won the first place $10,000 prize,” said Connolly. In 2005, Connolly entered a 1,214.5-pounder which won first place at The BIG E in Springfield, Mass. Also that year, he entered a 1,333-pounder at Frerichs Farm but it only came in second at the weigh off. see PUMPKINS page 80
The growers use all kind of lifting devices, including large crane devices to lift the pumpkins out of their patches and up and over their homes to get them into the trailers.