Second place at the fair this year was claimed by Bruce Whittier of Henniker, N.H., with a pumpkin weighing in at 1,593 pounds, Savage said. The giant also set a record for the state of New Hampshire.
Third place was won by Bob and Christine Duffy of Massachusetts, with a gourd weighing 1,513 pounds, she said.
The winner of the contest received a $3,000 prize. DeNigris and Moore’s pumpkin also won the ugliest pumpkin contest, said Savage, which got them an additional $100.
Prize money is also given for second- through 10th-heaviest, as well as the prettiest pumpkins.
The fair is the official weigh-off site for the New England Pumpkin Growers Association. The pumpkin-weighing event has received worldwide recognition and has become so popular that a cutoff weight of 350 pounds had to be instituted for a pumpkin to be considered.
The last time a pumpkin broke a world record at the fair was in 2007, when one of the gigantic orange vegetables grown in Rhode Island weighed 1,689 pounds, said David Thomson, a spokesman for the fair.
That pumpkin still holds the record for New England, but the world record was surpassed in 2010 by a man in Wisconsin with a pumpkin weighing 1,810 pounds.
Ideal pumpkin growing conditions include a lot of sunlight and temperatures under 90 degrees, said Mary Ann Hoomis, who cochairs the contest with her husband, George.
