From left, bottom, Alex Noel, Jamie Graham and Dave Aiello celebrate with Steve Connolly, on their shoulders, over his winning pumpkin, which weighed in a 2,211 pounds, enough for a fourth win at the Topsfield Fair Friday evening.
TOPSFIELD — Sharon resident Steve Connolly has won the most giant pumpkin growing contests in Topsfield Fair history.
Friday night’s annual giant pumpkin growing competition saw Connolly weigh in a 2,211-pound pumpkin. It wasn’t quite a personal best or a fair record breaker, but it was still a history-making pumpkin for Connolly, who has now won an unprecedented four times at the fair with his victory Friday.
He was on “pins and needles” when the final weight came in and the arena broke out in cheers, he said.
“It’s something I didn’t think I could do,” he said of his fourth win. “You just keep trying every year and never give up, and then things like this happen.”
Connolly first won the competition, hosted by the New England Giant Pumpkin Growers Association, in 2000. That year, he became the first-ever grower in the state to compete with a pumpkin over 1,000 pounds, he said.
He also won in 2010 and 2016, and has been competing at Topsfield Fair’s competition for 30 years.
First-place finisher Steve Connolly and wife Nancy chat with Gov. Maura Healey, far right, and fair General Manager James P. O’Brien after posing with the big check Friday at the Topsfield Fair’s giant pumpkin weigh-off.
For his victory, he was presented a $6,500 check while standing by his wife, Nancy Connolly, and Gov. Maura Healey.
It took three months to grow the massive pumpkin on a special diet of things like seaweed and fish, along with plenty of water. He knows every parent in this pumpkin’s genetic history and promised to give some of its seeds to a young pumpkin grower after winning Friday.
He’s not sure what he’ll do with the massive gourd yet. Some people are interested in buying it, others want to carve it, and he also has the option to float it down a river in New Hampshire during a regatta.
Alex Noel from Connecticut came in second Friday with a 1,921-pound pumpkin. Third place went to Ed Pappas, of Marshfield, with a weight of 1,917 pounds.
Topsfield had two local residents as contestants in this year’s competition. Henry Swenson grew a pumpkin weighing 1,349 pounds and Woody Lancaster grew one weighing 1,267 pounds.
Growers drove their massive pumpkins from all over New England, many of them hobbyists who do this just for fun.
There were 20 entries this year, which was considered a pretty good turnout considering this summer’s dry weather made growing the giant gourds difficult, said Dave Thompson, a spokesperson for the Topsfield Fair. Most normal years see closer to 30 contestants.
“I’m actually surprised to see some that are as big as they are considering the weather,” Thompson said.
Event co-chair George Hoomis lost his own giant pumpkin to disease early in the growing season, he said.
“If you’ve got plenty of water, you have less of a chance for disease,” Hoomis said. “But if you don’t have enough water, or your soil drains really quickly, it’s tough on the pumpkin because they’re about 80% water.”
But the bad weather didn’t deter newcomer pumpkin growers. Partners Evan Pagano and Daniel Lamendolla from Rhode Island started growing this year after seeing a giant pumpkin in the back of a truck at a bar.
They chatted with the giant pumpkin growers inside of the bar and received their first giant pumpkin seeds in the mail a few months later. Come Friday, they entered a giant pumpkin at the Topsfield Fair for the first time and are now members of several giant pumpkin growing clubs.
“It’s been a fun time,” Pagano said. “It’s a nice network of different growers where you learn a lot. I’ve been growing flowers forever but now I’m a pumpkin grower.”
Contact Caroline Enos at CEnos@northofboston.com