When Steve Daletas entered the iconic Half Moon Bay giant pumpkin weigh-off contest, he was hoping to be a finalist, but he ended up winning the top prize after his giant white pumpkin registered nearly a ton.

Daletas, 55, a pumpkin grower who traveled all the way from his farm in Oregon, watched a forklift lower his pale, oblong squash onto the scale with his wife, Susie, and his parents, Mitch and Jeannette, all of whom helped tend his pumpkin patch this summer. The humongous white pumpkin topped in at 1,969 pounds!

Photo: Imgur

It was so huge it needed a forklift to carry, but Steve and his wife took home a prize money win of $11,814.

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Schoolchildren looked on from hay bales, and the Half Moon Bay High School marching band blasted pop tunes.

Photo; Imgur

The contest takes place during the week of the Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival to celebrate Columbus Day, with the Safeway contest occurring the Monday before, just right in the middle of pumpkin harvest season.

Photo: imgur

According to Mercury News, “the top five winning pumpkins will be exhibited at the Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival in the coming weekend, when pumpkin connoisseurs begin estimating the number of pumpkin dishes that can be made out of the gigantic prized vegetables, including pumpkin chili, pumpkin bread rolls, pumpkin pie, pumpkin stew, pumpkin salad, pumpkin salsa, pumpkin waffles, pumpkin gnocchi, and others.”

Do you have a favorite pumpkin recipe? Please let us know in the comments section below!

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