The problem

Harrison County and Cynthiana is considered the #1 Fall Destination in Kentucky.  With that title, local businesses decorate storefronts, homes are decorated with skeletons and fall décor, there are events held each weekend through September and October and the Harrison County Extension Office is always looking for ways to participate and make their presence known in the community.

The educational program response

After a conversation with the Chamber of Commerce director, a suggestion was made to have a Giant Pumpkin Contest.  The contest would be run through the Harrison County Extension Office and promoted through the Harrison County – Cynthiana Tourism department.  In June 2023 the Horticulture Agent ordered bulk pumpkin seeds from a seed company, then divided them up into portions to be given out to households.  Seeds were packaged along with publications from land grant universities with information on how to successfully grow giant pumpkins.  Seeds and growing information could be picked up at the Extension Office, and over 100 households from Harrison County picked up the packets.   The kits were given out to people that knew the expectation was to participate in the Giant Pumpkin Contest that would be held in October.  Throughout the summer and growing season, the Extension Office Facebook pages reached out to growers to gather the status of the growing pumpkins.  Many people would not show pictures to keep their pumpkin success a secret!  However, they would describe their pumpkins and the current condition of it.  

The pumpkin weigh-in was scheduled for Friday, October 27 in front of the Courthouse on Main Street.   Two weigh-in times were available to accommodate schedules.  Participants could weigh-in from 11:00 – 1:00 and 5:00 – 7:00, with winners announced at 7:00 p.m. that evening.  Partnerships were made with the courthouse and main street to allow for an area for the event and place on the grounds for the pumpkins to be displayed throughout the Halloween weekend.  Parking spaces were secured to allow participants to drop off their pumpkins to the scales.  A local farmer donated a large set of scales to weigh the heavy pumpkins.  Also donated for the day was a forklift from a downtown shop owner to move and unload the giant pumpkins that arrived on pallets.  All four extension agents, program assistant, and the support staff played a key role in the development and execution of this event.  Some of the tasks included registration of who picked up seeds, registration of pumpkins that were entered, manning the refreshment booth, working with partners to get parking, advertising, scales, and a forklift, making signs, making identification tags for the pumpkins, along with a variety of other tasks.  The event would not have been possible without the team effort of the extension office.

As the event date got closer, the pumpkin categories were decided, with an effort to include everyone possible, not just those with incredible success.  There were 4 categories of winners: largest pumpkin (by weight) with free seeds from the extension office, largest pumpkin with seeds not from the extension office, smallest pumpkin, and most unique pumpkin.  The largest pumpkins and smallest pumpkins were chosen by weight and the most unique pumpkin was chosen by a committee comprised of a local business owner, elected official, and a local farmer.  

The participants/target audience

The night of the event, warm apple cider and cookies were served.  A total of 42 pumpkins were entered into the contest and there were 126 participants that brought pumpkins and attended the evening event.   Following the event, pumpkins were asked to be picked up by November 1.  Pumpkins that were no longer wanted were donated to a local wildlife rescue organization where the pumpkins were fed to the animals.

Other partners (if applicable)

Initial conversations were held with Chamber of Commerce director for idea development

Program impact or participant response.

This program was done to work with the community and add another event to the already popular fall schedule of events.  No prizes or accolades were advertised, but that didn’t seem to matter.  Folks participated in this to see if they could do it.  They participated to be included in a community event.  They participated with pride to show off what they could create.  This event went exceptionally well, and the Extension Office was blown away by the success and participation numbers for its first year.   This is an event that will be offered again in the fall of 2024 and is something that is expected to grow and evolve over the next few years.