The 2025 All New England giant pumpkin weigh-off was one for the books on Friday!
Alex Noel, of Abington, Connecticut, smashed the Topsfield Fair record with his green-orange gourd weighing in at 2,507 pounds. Noel broke the previous record of 2,480 that was set in 2022.
This is Noel’s third time winning the contest, according to the Boston Globe, but this win was different from the others, as Noel and his wife just welcomed their first child on Thursday.
Noel held up a photo of his wife, Liz, and newborn daughter, Nova, following his big win, telling the Globe he wanted it to be a family moment even though Liz and Nova are still in the hospital.
According to the Globe, Noel started growing pumpkins at 8 years old and first attended the Topsfield Fair in 2001.
“I saw the giant pumpkins, I got some seeds, and I couldn’t get enough of it,” he said.
There were 33 participants in the contest in Topsfield, Massachusetts, this year, the Globe reports.
Second place went to Daniel Kruszyna, of Cheshire, Mass., whose pumpkin weighed 2,234 pounds. And Thomas Keenan, of Swampscott, Mass., came in third with a pumpkin weighing 2,000 pounds, the fair said on its website.
The Topsfield Fair runs Oct. 3 -13 at 207 Boston Street in Topsfield.
Topsfield Fair General Manager James O’Brien spoke to NBC10 Boston on Friday ahead of the giant pumpkin weigh-off, telling us they were expecting to see some gigantic gourds this year.
“It was a dry summer but a dry summer is great for the pumpkin people. Because they want to control the water going to their pumpkins,” O’Brien said. “When it rains it grows much faster. And when it grows faster it has a tendency to crack, so we’re gonna see some real big ones tonight.”
The Topsfield Fair, which opened Friday, runs through Oct. 13. After it concludes, the giant pumpkins will be sold to various local display sites, and then they’ll go toward animal feed once the season is over, Noel told the Globe.
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