Size Matters! One-Ton Gargantuan Gourd Wins Europe's Pumpkin Weigh-Off Contest

The European Pumpkin Weigh-Off Championship was held on October 8, 2017 as part of the world's biggest Pumpkin Festival at Blühendes Barock in Ludwigsburg, a town in southern Germany.

For the second year in a row, Belgian farmer Mathias Willemijns has secured victory in the competition after growing the heaviest vegetable in Europe. The number one pumpkin was grown over the course of more than a hundred days, sometimes needing up to 1,000 liters of water in the summer heat. As a result, it weighed 1,008 kilograms — just 181.5 kg less than the world's heaviest gourd, presented by the 24-year-old farmer during last year's European Pumpkin Weigh-Off.