While most people who grow pumpkins are looking to harvest gourds that children can carry home and carve, Ron Wallace is looking to grow pumpkins that require several farmhands and a forklift to carry.
Wallace, 61, of Greene, Rhode Island, achieved his goal. He produced a 3,156-pound pumpkin this year — the world’s largest pumpkin to date — earning his third Guinness World Record title.
The pumpkin will be on display at the Pittsburgh Monster Pumpkin Festival on Saturday and Sunday in the Strip District’s Stack Courtyard. Festival hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
It was grown from the seed of a pumpkin that weighed more than 2,700 pounds. Wallace attributes the pumpkin’s size to “a good seed and good soil.”
Wallace’s last record-breaking pumpkin was grown in 2012 and broke barriers by being the first pumpkin to exceed 2,000 pounds. His 2006 pumpkin was the first to break 1,500 pounds.
Pumpkin growing is more than just work for Wallace, who says the business runs in his family and is something he and his dad used to bond over.
“We did everything together,” Wallace said. “We always enjoyed the process along the way.”
Wallace’s dad died in 2024, but pumpkin growing is something Wallace can never give up.
“It’s certainly not the same without him,” he said. “I still carry on because I love doing it.”
Wallace said he is most excited to see people’s wonder and joy at the Pittsburgh Monster Pumpkin Festival.
“Everybody loves a pumpkin,” Wallace said.
Similarly, festival producer Michael Dongilli said everybody — especially in Pittsburgh — “loves a good festival,” making the Strip District the perfect place for the ninth annual Monster Pumpkin event.
“Something about this city,” Dongilli said. “Rain or shine, they’ll come out.”
The festival will boast several attractions that guests can enjoy for free, including more than 70 food and drink vendors and craftsman, a massive pumpkin pulling contest, a pumpkin slingshot, a pie-eating contest, and a “pumpkin drop,” where organizers will hoist one-ton pumpkins 200 feet into the air and drop them into a pool of water for spectators to see.
Those willing to spend $5 can enjoy a horse-drawn wagon ride.
Chiefly, the festival will recognize the efforts of the pumpkin farmers who brought thousands of pounds of pumpkins with a display near the festival entrance.
For Wallace, who has been growing pumpkins competitively for 35 years, this year’s festival marks his greatest achievement.
“I’ve always been competitive,” Wallace said. “And nothing pushes you more to compete than a giant pumpkin.”