Biggest pumpkin in Wisconsin history

SUAMICO - If you drive along Highway 41 in Suamico, you may see the Pumpkin Place. But chances are, you have never seen a pumpkin as big as the one currently on display there.

"I just couldn't believe it when it was sitting on the vine," said Ray Gronski, who grew the monster pumpkin in the town of Pittsfield.

"Just started growing. This one never quit," Gronski said as he stood next to the pumpkin. "Actually it was still growing when we picked it. It was still putting on nine pounds a day. I wish I would've had another week."

But last week, Gronski picked his prized pumpkin to enter it in the Nekoosa Giant Pumpkin Fest. It weighed in at 1,569.5 pounds. That was big enough to win the title of largest pumpkin ever grown in Wisconsin. It also means Gronski gets to spend a year with the travelling giant pumpkin trophy.

"It's nice to get it you know," Gronski said. "My wife ain't as fond of it. She said it ain't going on the mantle."

It's not just giant pumpkins Gronski grows, he's also had a five-pound onion, an eight-pound carrot and a 44-pound head of cabbage. Gronski said the key to growing giant pumpkins is the seed.

"We had, in the early '90s, I think it was around 600-700 pound pumpkins and people just kept carrying the genetics on and got them bigger and bigger and now we have really nice pumpkins," Gronski said.

But make no mistake, it also takes a lot of work. He said he usually spends three or fours in the field with the pumpkins every day during the growing season. While people stop by just to marvel at the record setting pumpkin, Gronski is savoring his success. But he already has an eye on the future.

"Now we gotta try for next year," Gronski said.

According to the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth, Gronski's pumpkin is the largest ever grown in Wisconsin. But it wasn't the largest pumpkin at the Nekoosa Giant Pumpkin Fest. The biggest pumpkin was 10 pounds heavier, but it was grown in Minnesota.