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Jordan Abbate wins Langley pumpkin weigh-off by one pound
Abbate’s 1,485-pound pumpkin edged a 1,484-pound entry from Team Halliday at the 2026 B.C. Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off; two other categories set provincial records.
British Columbia’s biggest gourds were on display in Langley on Saturday at the 2026 B.C. Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off. Several tons of squash competed across eight categories, but the top prize in the giant pumpkin category came down to a one-pound difference. Kelowna grower Jordan Abbate won with a 1,485-pound pumpkin. The runner-up, grown by Team Halliday, weighed 1,484 pounds. Abbate told event emcee Jeff Pelletier he was not confident heading into the competition. After learning he had won, he told reporters, “I’m happy with it.”
Asked what it takes to grow a giant pumpkin, Abbate said he spent “a couple hours a day” tending to it over six months. He described months of watering, pruning and maintaining the plant, adding that he also worked on the soil during the winter.
Pelletier said the weigh-off follows the rules of the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth, which hosts about 800 competitions worldwide each year. This was the 13th year of B.C.’s competition. Before Saturday’s event, Pelletier told CTV News he expected several B.C. records to be challenged or broken. His prediction proved correct: Abbate’s pumpkin did not beat the provincial record, but a 1,149-pound entry set a new mark in that category. A 131.5-inch long gourd also set a provincial record.
The Great Pumpkin Commonwealth keeps records in eight categories, Pelletier said: giant pumpkin, giant squash, field pumpkin, long gourd, bushel gourd, tomato, watermelon and giant zucchini. The giant pumpkin and giant squash entries are the heaviest and require forklifts and slings to move. Pelletier said a giant pumpkin can gain as much as 60 pounds a day during its peak growth rate, and can do so for two weeks. Growers have to check on them almost daily, he said, calling a pumpkin “your pet for the six months that you’re growing it.”
Abbate’s 1,485-pound pumpkin is still less than half the size of the world-record gourd. British brothers Ian and Stuart Paton set the record last year with a 2,819-pound pumpkin. This year, the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth leaderboard lists Ian Paton with an even larger 2,856-pound gourd.