Elk Grove Pumpkin Festival draws thousands, weighs some hefty gourds

Carnival rides and fun slides. Loaded fries and Kona ice. Face painting and, yes, a lot of pumpkins.

Maria Custodia, an Elk Grove resident for nearly 20 years, was shocked to see all the people who showed up to Elk Grove Park for the city’s 29th annual Giant Pumpkin Festival.

In all of her years living in Elk Grove, it was her first time attending the yearly pumpkin patch.

“There’s a lot of people here, I didn’t expect this,” Custodia said.

Custodia came out to the festival on Saturday. She and her husband were sprawled out in the shade, enjoying the breeze with their tent propped up open, taking in the scenery while simultaneously getting a break from the heat.

It was a family day for Custodia, who showed up to the event because of her daughter and granddaughter.

Custodia, 70, said they wanted to “go to the pumpkin festival and see the big pumpkin.”

The fall festival had a summer feel as attendees shaded themselves however they could amid 90-degree temperatures — taking refuge under trees, walking around with umbrellas or clinging to vendors and booths such as Handel’s Ice Cream.

The event featured pumpkin-themed activities such as weigh-offs and carving.

Luis Rodriguez was hired to be a pumpkin carver at the festival, a task he’d been invited to complete for the previous six years.

He first took up carving 11 years ago when his then-girlfriend, now wife, Grace, brought home a pumpkin because she entered a contest at work and asked Rodriguez to carve it up and create a design.

“I’ve never carved anything in my life,” Rodriguez said. “So I did what most people do and I went to the University of Youtube and that’s how I started.”

From meticulously watching videos, he learned to not only carve pumpkins, but also how to carve watermelon Thai fruit.

Rodriguez recalls his first carving. He said it looked like someone stepped on it.

“But what I tell everybody that comes around is like, ‘Just practice.’ Every skill you just got to practice, practice, practice.”

And, of course, there were the stars of the festival — massive pumpkins from across the West Coast and proud owners ready to weigh them.

The title – and the top prize of $7,000 – went to Russ Pugh, whose pumpkin weighed in at 1,941 pounds.

Pugh drove nearly 500 miles from Eugene, Oregon, to participate for the first time since 2017, though he’s been in the contest several times since 2001. He’s been growing pumpkins and competing in contests for 22 years. This was the fourth time he’d ever won a weigh-off.

The heaviest pumpkin he’s grown was a 2,023-pounder that won top honors at a similar contest last month in Washington state.

“I love to do it and it’s fun,” Pugh said. “It’s challenging, (but) you meet so many great people and I’ve got friends all around the world because of pumpkin growing. In fact, most of my best friends are pumpkin growers and many of them are here today. So over time, it just kind of becomes your life.”

Pugh said he’s going to give the cash prize to his wife, Tracey, for putting up with his grower’s antics.

She dislikes pumpkin contests, Pugh said, because they’re usually around the same time as their Oct. 2 wedding anniversary.

The prize money will serve as a 23rd anniversary gift and perhaps a little bribe for Pugh to enter the contest again next year.

“You win a little money and then your wife says like, ‘OK, you can do this again,’” Pugh said. “When you don’t win any money, you know, you just try not to mention anything. And then in the next year you start buying things and spending money and, you know, you get a little nudge from the wife, like, ‘Well, you better win this year.’”

This story was originally published October 9, 2023 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Elk Grove Pumpkin Festival draws thousands, weighs some hefty gourds."