Peosta Dad & Daughter Win Top Pumpkin Prize at Iowa State Fair!

The Great Pumpkin may have made a new home in Peosta, Iowa, with the recent announcement that a pumpkin grown there was named the Largest at the 2022 Iowa State Fair!

On Friday, August 12, the Iowa State Fair announced a Dubuque County family took the top prize for growing one giant gourd. Pete Caspers and daughter Alba grew a pumpkin weighing in at a whopping 1,281 pounds!

That horticulture honor won them a cash prize of $1,850 in the Big Pumpkin Contest at the 2022 Iowa State Fair in Des Moines.

VIDEO: See How the Caspers Grew their Award-Winning Pumpkin!

Don Young and Tommy Rhodes of Des Moines grew a 1,046-pound pumpkin to take second place, and the $800 prize, followed by a 1,018-pound pumpkin grown by Dave Davis of Bloomfield, won third place home $450 for his effort.

While Pete and Alba Casper's accomplishment of maintaining Iowa's most overgrown gourd is impressive by any standard, it comes up short when measured against the current World Record.

As of October 2021, the world record for the largest giant pumpkin is 2,703 pounds. The massive squash was grown by Stefano Cutrupi in the Italian region of Tuscany. It was recognized and awarded at the European Pumpkin Weighing Championship held in Ludwigsburg, Germany.

Over the ten-day Iowa State Fair, dozens of competitions are available for all ages and are open to kids and adults. There is a contest for everybody, from the Spelling Bee, Backgammon Tournament, the Mr. Legs Contest, Pigtail, Ponytail, Braid, Mullet & Mohawk Contest to the Tallest Corn Contest. Which Ron Zelle of Waverly, Iowa, won with an impressive corn stalk entry of 14 feet, 3.5 inches.

To learn more and to start planning for next year's competitions at the Iowa State Fair, visit iowastatefair.org