The Great Pumpkin Commonwealth Weigh-off was held at the Louis Doe Home Center in Newcastle on Oct. 6. Laura Sitterly / The Times Record In August, Charlie Lopresti tiptoed around his pumpkin patch in Buxton, carefully checking for holes.
He gave one of his gourds a hearty smack, listening to the “thump” before confirming its walls were thick enough to stand a chance of breaking the state record set by Edwin Pierpont — 2,121.5 pounds. What fun would it be to boast without being sure? So, he kept the excitement to himself (for the most part).
Charlie Lopresti took the top prize. His giant Atlantic pumpkin weighed 2,365.5 pounds, surpassing the previous state record by over 200 pounds.
Laura Sitterly / The Times Record Like many growers, Lopresti, inspired by the prospect of pushing boundaries, has doubled his efforts in the past decade, devising a raft of strategies, from new pruning techniques to homemade greenhouses. He had two giant Atlantic pumpkins this year. The “smaller” one weighed 2,070 pounds at the Cumberland Fair on Sept.
23. The larger, his entry at the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth Weigh-off on Oct. 6, tipped the scales at a whopping 2,365.
5 pounds. The Volunteer Weigh-off — different from the GPC Weigh-off — is traditionally held one week before the Damariscotta Pumpkinfest. Growers compete for cash prizes (with a total purse of $2,500) in the adults’ and children’s divisions.
Then, nearly all the fruit weighed at Louis Doe Home Center gets used f.