[Nebbe] Every fall, pumpkins pop up all over the place.

And some Iowa communities have woven one renowned variety into a giant spectacle.

[Dave Davis] This is our second year of doing it and there was a lot of wind this year too.

But listen, these are 700-pound pumpkins falling out of the sky.

Holy cow!

Woo!

Oh my goodness!

[Dave Davis] That little bit of breeze isn't going to make them move that much.

And they hit just perfect again.

I was hearing four months later how neat and how cool that was, you know.

[Nebbe] These are not your ordinary pie or carving pumpkins.

They are a variety originally from South America and when they are planted in Iowa soils the results are huge.

[Dave Davis] The largest one that we ever had, a 2,283-pound pumpkin.

[Nebbe] Known for their novelty, not their flavor, the behemoths have found a home at agricultural fairs of all size and scale since the mid-1800s.

Ballooning from a world record 403 pounds in 1904 to the 2,749-pound record set in 2023, thanks to some modern know-how.

It'll carry all the nutrients.

Once I get that dusting, the roots will make contact with that after I water.

[Nebbe] Replanted and crossbred, given away or sold, sharing seeds keeps the competition going.

Attention all units, Sheriff Davis, we sincerely thank you for your loyal and dedicated service.

[Nebbe] Recently retired Davis County Sheriff, Dave Davis, started the Bloomfield Weigh Off ten years ago, long before the pumpkin drops began.

A farm kid with a green thumb, he was hooked after seeing them while working at the Iowa State Fair.

[Dave Davis] One thing that we try and do is vine burying.

It is supposed to make them roots just go everywhere.

The more of that you've got, the more water and more nutrients you've got, try to push that pumpkin.

It kind of gets in your blood.

[Dave Davis] I'm just like a little kid at Christmas time.

And I know my little granddaughter, she is getting excited seeing these things grow for the State Fair.

The official is 1,294 pounds!

(crowd cheering) Iowa Department of Agriculture weights and measures coordinator Ivan Hankins has emceed and officiated weigh-offs since the 1990s.

And who's this little punkin?

[Nebbe] He says, at the center of what might seem outlandish is good-hearted community.

[Ivan Hankins] I don't know if I'd call them a cult.

I suppose you could, the pumpkin cult.

They don't gather in dark rooms, they go out and they share their secrets.

[Nebbe] 2024 marked Hankins' second call of the Dave Davis State Fair win against hefty competition.

Oh, ho, ho, ho!

Almost!

1,286.

That means, should have brought the big one.

[Dave Davis] Oh yeah, we have some fun little banter back and forth.

We're pretty fortunate to have Pete right here in Iowa with us.

I beat Pete at the Fair, but that was because I had my good luck charm, my little four-year-old granddaughter helping me.

[Nebbe] Although their size is impressive at summer competitions, giant pumpkins reach their peak in the fall.

That is when state and world records are set.

♪♪ I got the Iowa state record at 2,424 pounds.

Good job, Pete!

♪♪ [Nebbe] Pete Caspers is chasing a dream he's had since middle school, being the first Iowan to set a new world record.

♪♪ [Pete Caspers] Once you get that one to the scale it's like, hooked, you just want to get better and better every year.

And it took a long time to get better.

(crowd cheering) [Nebbe] Caspers was just named President of the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth, the international body overseeing rules and standards for quirky competitive produce weigh-offs.

♪♪ [Nebbe] It's a personal achievement, but also recognition of increasingly impressive pumpkins grown in Iowa.

[Greg Norlin] The first year the largest pumpkin came from Garnerville, Iowa.

Everybody was just in awe.

It took their breath away.

Nobody had seen a pumpkin weighing 252 pounds in Iowa.

It was unheard of.

[Nebbe] Of the over 100 sites across the globe sanctioned by the GPC, two are in Iowa, Bloomfield and Anamosa.

Along with daughter Katie, Greg and Nancy Norlin have organized the Ryan Norlin Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off for decades.

It's dedicated to their son, who had been his uncle's helper in the pumpkin patch.

[Greg Norlin] In the summer of 1989, July 9th, obviously you never forget that, we lost our son to a tragic drowning accident on the Mississippi River and because of that my brother Tom, who started this weigh-off, wanted to name the weigh-off in memory of Ryan.

We became the 11th weigh-off site in North America at that time.

[Nebbe] Anamosa embraced the contest.

And in 1993, the town was proclaimed the pumpkin capital of Iowa.

♪♪ [Greg Norlin] It's been wonderful.

It has been wonderful in memory of our son.

We're just going to keep continuing to grow.

This guy right here from Peosta, originally from Anamosa -- [Nebbe] Families like the Caspers are evidence of that spread.

Pete's daughter Alba and father Rusty have both taken up the grower mantle.

[Rusty Caspers] Yeah, he's been doing it since he was a little kid.

I finally quit working on the road and I had more time to get into things like this.

I started working with my grandpa in the garden at four years old.

And I got a picture of Pete at two years old helping me.

So, it's cool to go to a weigh-off with Pete and watch him win.

(laughs) [Pete Caspers] But yeah, her I got pictures of her out here in her diaper and her sunglasses just talking to the pumpkins.

♪♪ [Nebbe] Pete grows multiple pumpkins to compete at several weigh-offs.

And, though he won Bloomfield handily, he is both strategic and sentimental when it comes to Anamosa.

[Pete Caspers] I was a grade ahead of Ryan Norlin when the drowning accident happened.

I am childhood friends with him and his older sister.

They were a grade behind me and a grade ahead of me.

So, I've got history with Anamosa.

That will always be my hometown.

So, the big one always goes to Anamosa.

Yeah, I could have won the Fair.

I could have brought the big one.

[Nebbe] Great care is taken in moving these harvests.

Cracks and other damage are instant disqualifiers.

So, reaching the scale intact is essential.

♪♪ The pumpkin master, his knuckles are white on the wheel as he drives over.

The official weight, 1,933 and a half pounds!

(crowd cheering) [Pete Caspers] I got the win.

I was not expecting that.

Winning Anamosa, that's like top notch right there.

You got first!

[Nebbe] Caspers intends to take time off after the season.

But next year is always on the horizon.

In the meantime, as everyone involved gets back to business as usual, some can't help but ponder the gravity of what they have witnessed.

♪♪ [Ivan Hankins] Iowa is about a lot of goofy stuff.

We have celebrations for anything.

I have watched this whole thing grow from a 300-pound, 200-pound pumpkin up to a 1,200, up to a 2,200-pound pumpkin.

One of these guys are going to pull it off one of these days.

I hope I'm around to call the numbers.

To have a world record would be another bright star for Iowa.

♪♪