Joe Adkins, of suburban Wheaton, grows three giant pumpkins every year, and this year, one of his pumpkins exceeded all expectations.
The three pumpkins are on display right in front of his house near Childs Street and Pierce Avenue.
“The most important one is the weight of this one, and it beat the 2,000-pound mark,” he said. “It’s just ecstatic, and I’m super happy that it was grown off of my own seeds from last year...and it ended up becoming over 2,000, which I’ve been working on. That goal has been in my head for years.”
Last weekend, he took home first place in the Illinois Giant Pumpkin Growers Association weigh-off in Minooka -- for the third year in a row. The seven-time state champion said his interest began more than a decade ago and knows the pressure is on to break his own record.
“A little bit of pressure is good,” he said. “It keeps me outside where all the hard work is going on. June, July, I’m spending six or seven hours a day out in the yard.”
So what’s his secret to growing? A lot of tender, love, and care, he said.
“They get special little tents made up for them, heating cables in the ground, special food. You really treat these almost like a member of the family at times to get them to this status,” Adkins explained.
Local
People from all over the region and even from out of state have been stopping by to check out the display, including a couple visiting from North Carolina.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” laughed Michael Harris. “That is crazy. That is a ridiculous size.”
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter.
Adkin’s record last year was 1,850 pounds. After carving, the contents of that pumpkin were dumped back into his yard for compost.
“It’s pretty simple," he said. "It gets chopped up into pieces and we put it in the backyard in the compost and after a couple of those really good hard freezes, hard frost, they just flatten out by spring—there’s nothing left anymore,” he said.
He never imagined his hobby would grow, bringing smiles and creating lasting memories over the years for his community.
“I think it encouraged a lot of the neighbors to be a little bit more festive on Halloween, put out a few more decorations, definitely buy a few more bags of candy too for the extra trick or treaters that are going to come by," he said.
Adkins plans to carve the giant pumpkin closer to Halloween. He’s already thinking about next year's weigh-off competition.
