Man smashes world record with 2,749-pound pumpkin
WeirdNews
The previous record was 2,702 pounds
(Web Desk) - Travis Gienger's gourd took first place at the 50th World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in California.
A Minnesota man's special pumpkin will have you saying, “Oh my gourd.”
Travis Gienger of Anoka, Minnesota, set a world record on Monday for the heaviest pumpkin, according to multiple media outlets, including the Associated Press and ABC affiliate KSTP-TV.
The 2,749-pound jack-o’-lantern gourd took first place in the 50th World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, California. The previous record was 2,702 pounds, set in 2021.
A representative for Guinness World Records did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.
Gienger, a 43-year-old horticulture teacher, told KSTP that he named the pumpkin "Michael Jordan" because "it’s the year [20]23… and he’s the greatest basketball player of all time.”
He added, “It started out basketball round, and I said this is going to be a perfectly round basketball-shaped pumpkin.”
This was not Gienger's first brush with setting records. Last year, he broke the record for the largest jack-o’-lantern by circumference, measuring 509 inches, per the Guinness World Records website.
