Pumpkin Party: Wyoming State Championship Weigh-Off and Giant Pumpkin Drop reaches new heights

On Oct. 4, a group of spectators and giant pumpkin growers gathered at the Washakie County Fairgrounds in Worland for the annual Wyoming State Championship Weigh-Off and Giant Pumpkin Drop.

This family-friendly tradition helps ring in fall each year and features an impressive display of massive pumpkins exhibited by expert gourd growers hailing from across Wyoming and surrounding states.

The event always ends with the fan favorite giant pumpkin drop, where the heaviest pumpkins are hoisted hundreds of feet high before careening to the ground. 

This year, the winning pumpkin weighed in at 1,788 pounds, setting a new site record before being sent crashing down onto a port-a-potty from 200 feet in the air.

Weigh-off results

In total, 20 giant pumpkins ranging in size from just under 60 pounds to nearly one ton were on display at the 2025 contest. The weigh-off featured growers from all across Wyoming, as well as one competitor from Montana. 

Chad Kurtenbach of Lovell set a new site record with his champion pumpkin, which was grown in his backyard, weighing a whopping 1,788 pounds. It was Kurtenbach’s second consecutive championship, having also won the 2024 contest with a 1,254-pound pumpkin.

Second place went to Joe Nigro of Billings, Mont., whose 1,591-pound pumpkin set a record in its own right, replacing the previous Montana state record of 1,348 pounds, according to an Oct. 9 Northern Wyoming News article written by Karla Pomeroy.

Worland native Ray Butz earned third place with an 857-pound pumpkin. Two more Worland growers, Jay Richard and Dustin Reid, rounded out the top five placings with pumpkins weighing 570 and 518 pounds, respectively.

The remaining 15 pumpkins were all grown in Wyoming and ranged in size from 512 pounds to 58 pounds, contributing to an overall total of roughly four tons of pumpkins weighed throughout the day.

Giant pumpkin drop

After the contest concluded, Kurtenbach’s prize pumpkin became the largest pumpkin ever dropped in Wyoming, followed by an array of other heavy hitters from the day.

According to an Oct. 4 article for Cowboy State Daily written by Andrew Rossi, the pumpkins were loaded into a custom harness built by Ed Keller of Wyoming Bucket LLC before being hoisted into the air by a crane provided by local Swing Trucking, Inc., and then dropped from a height of 200 feet.

Rossi further reports the original plan was to drop the pumpkins from 275 feet high, which would have been the greatest height reached in the pumpkin drop to date, but windy weather prevented this goal from taking place.

Still, the spectacle was a sight to behold and a fun and unique autumn activity for all in attendance.

Wyoming whopper

The same day, a new Wyoming state record for the largest pumpkin produced in the Cowboy State was set at a contest in Colorado. 

On Oct. 4, Andy and Amy Corbin of Cheyenne broke their own state record with a mammoth 2,085-pound pumpkin exhibited at Nick’s Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Aurora, Colo. 

In a Cowboy State Daily article published on Oct. 6, Rossi notes the Corbins actually expected the 2025 pumpkin to weigh “at least 2,350 pounds” and were somewhat disappointed to fall short of this goal, despite beating their previous record of 2,062 pounds, which was set in 2023. 

Grace Skavdahl is the editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.