GOUVERNEUR, New York (WWNY) – She’s the owner of a big pumpkin. This is the 12th year Christine Nolan has grown a pumpkin, hoping to be the biggest gourd on the lot at the 12th Annual Pumpkin Festival put on at Gouverneur & St. Lawrence County Fairgrounds.
“It’s addicting, because every year you want to try and get a bigger pumpkin, and my goal this year was 2,000 pounds but I didn’t make it. I said if I got to 2,000 pounds I was quitting,” said Nolan.
This year she started growing her pumpkin back in April. So, what’s her secret to growing it this big?
“It takes a lot of dedication and time, you really can’t go away on a vacation, because you want to be home to check your pumpkin every day,” said Nolan.
She says it also takes 50 gallons of water daily and a strict food schedule to get it to this size. It’s a tradition that is now passed down to her grandkids Lilly and Brayden Clemmon.
Brayden says he has been doing this for as long as he can remember.
“You got to water it, bury the vines and all of that,” said Brayden Clemmon.
He says his favorite part of the journey is seeing the pumpkins change in size.
“My favorite part is probably seeing them when they are really small and then getting this big,” said Brayden Clemmon.
Just a few steps over is his sister Lilly’s. She says besides the size, she likes the orange tones of her pumpkin. Lilly says growing it wasn’t easy.
“Then it split, and my dad had to put silicone on it, and we thought it wouldn’t make it but it did. It takes a lot of effort to make a pumpkin to be big,” said Lilly Clemmon.
Around 30 pumpkins were brought in to this year’s pumpkin festival, several of those pumpkins belonging to children. Those participating at the fairgrounds hope this is a pattern they continue to see in the years to come.
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