Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off with World Record Mega-Prize

 The Big Week launches with the World's Greatest Gourd Growers and their enormous orbs gathering for the 38th Annual SAFEWAY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PUMPKIN WEIGH-OFF—the Super Bowl of weigh-offs—on Monday, October 8, (7 a.m., on the IDES Grounds, 735 Main Street, in Half Moon Bay). Once again, a special $5,000 bonus mega-prize will be awarded to any grower that breaks the world record at Half Moon Bay. The current world record is 1,818.5 pounds, held by Jim and Kelsey Bryson of Ormstown, Quebec, Canada. Superstar grower Leonardo Urena's gargantuan, gasp-inspiring 1,704-pound mega-gourd set a new California State record and obliterated a formidable field of heavyweight contenders in winning the 2011 Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off. Urena is expected to return along with a host of accomplished, veteran growers to contend for the $5,000 world record prize and an estimated $20,000 in additional prize money. The grand champion mega-gourd, along with the top five weigh-off pumpkins, will be displayed at the Art & Pumpkin Festival, October 13-14.