Giant pumpkin grower in Richmond may break B.C. record this week

A Richmond pumpkin grower is keeping his fingers crossed that this year will finally be his year.

For decades, Dave Chan has been growing giant competition pumpkins from his rural, Fedoruk Road garden in east Richmond, with the dream of producing B.C.’s biggest ever.

Three years ago, Chan thought he’d pulled it off, with a gourd so large that it needed an excavator to load it onto a truck, en route to a competition in Portland.

However, it weighed in at 1,363-pounds, almost 200 pounds shy of the provincial record of 1,543 pounds.

On Saturday, at B.C.’s official Great Pumpkin Commonwealth weigh-off at Krause Berry Farms in Langley, Chan is once again confident of grabbing the title.

“On paper (the pumpkin is) 200 pounds over the previous B.C .record… This one is measuring 1,734 lbs and most growers think it will weigh heavier than the charts,” Chan told the Richmond News.

“Only the weigh-off will tell for sure.”

Chan said there’s also another “competition within the competition” on Saturday – the challenge to grow three pumpkins weighing over 4,000 pounds in total.

“On paper, they weigh 4,100, so it has been a fun year!” added Chan.

For the first time, the B.C. competition has corporate sponsorship, with Urban Roots Garden Market paying the winner $1 per pound.

It so happens the world record for biggest pumpkin just fell on Sunday. A grower in Italy pumped his up to 2,702.8 pounds, although fellow growers suspect chemicals may have been used, which is frowned upon in the gourd-growing community.