孫朝蘭

世界南瓜稱重錦標賽在加利福尼亞州的半月灣舉行，冠軍南瓜重2，560磅，屬于來自明尼蘇達州的園藝師特拉維斯·吉格爾。

Some people turn into temporarypumpkin enthusiasts during the fall season，but for others， their passion for pumpkinsis so giant that it draws them to aunique type of competition.

The Safeway World Championship PumpkinWeighOffbegan in Half Moon Bay，California. The winning pumpkin weighedin at 2，560 pounds and belonged to TravisGienger， a horticulture teacher from Minnesota.Gienger also took first place in2020 with a 2，350poundpumpkin.

The prize pumpkin set a new NorthAmerican record， according to organizers，but it did not beat the current world record，which was set in 2021 by a 2，703poundpumpkin in Italy， according toGuinness World Records. About 30 pumpkingrowers took part in 2022s weighoffand the competition itself drew hundredsof attendees， Tim Beeman， a spokesmanfor the weighoff，told NPR.

Farmers begin planting seeds in Aprilin preparation for the competition， Beeman?said. On the day of the competition， eachpumpkin is carefully weighed on a 5toncapacity industrialstrengthdigital scaleusing forklifts and special harnesses.

Beeman said the tradition has beenparticularly meaningful to people duringthe pandemic.“In times like that， peoplegravitate （被吸引） toward things that bringthem a smile on their face，”Beeman added.“People derive that from pumpkins—whether its carving a pumpkin， eatingpumpkin pie or seeing a 2，500poundpumpkin wheeled in on a forklift.”

Half Moon Bay， located south of SanFrancisco， considers itself the pumpkincapital of the world because of its localgrowers who produce more than 3，000 tonsof pumpkins.

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