Todd Kline of Shawville, Que., won the Port Elgin Pumpkinfest’s Saturday weigh-off.

The grower, who set a since-beaten Canadian record in 2016 at the Port Elgin Pumpkinfest with a 1,877-pound monster, took home the $3,200 prize with a 1,542.5-pound pumpkin on Saturday.

The recently retired officer of the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth (GPC) is well-known in the giant vegetable world. His 981.5-pound pumpkin finished second in the squash category behind John Butler of St. Thomas.

“You want your fruit to be on the largest vine, right? So all of the offshoots feed into that. You get 1,000 square feet of plant all feeding one fruit. That’s how you get a giant pumpkin,” Kline said.

He eschews modernizing within the giant pumpkin growing hobby and prefers to grow his pumpkins outside using natural fertilizers like seaweed.

“I’m a gardener,” the man who made his living as a carpenter said. “I love it.”

Growing a winning pumpkin at what most growers consider the province’s premier weigh-off is an expensive, time-consuming pursuit. Kline said it’s the people and the community that keep bringing him back.

“Everybody who does it gets really involved, and we love coming to events like this,” Kline said. “It’s good to catch up and get together.”

Saturday’s weigh-off wasn’t without some friendly controversy. Kline’s friend and travel buddy, Jeff Warner, from Englehart, Ont., brought the heaviest pumpkin weighed on Saturday.

However, a rot spot on the side of the pumpkin larger than three inches in diameter led to the disqualification of the would-be-winning fruit.

“I thought there was a 50-50 chance when I loaded it on the trailer,” Warner said.

“It’s random,” he said of pumpkin rot. “It’s like having five tomatoes on the kitchen counter, and only one goes bad.”

Another weigh-off is set for Sunday, although most growers bring their biggest fruits and vegetables on Saturday because the prize money is greater.

There’s also a giant two-day car show on Goderich Street that will continue Sunday from 10-4 p.m, as well as entertainment, food-truck alley, and a midway.

More to come . . .