GREAT PUMPKIN FOUNDATION HAILS 3,156-POUND RHODE ISLAND GOURD AS “FIRST EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE,” NAMES WALLACE PATCH MOST SINCERE IN AMERICA
GREENE, R.I. — The Great Pumpkin Foundation announced Thursday that the 3,156-pound pumpkin grown this year by Rhode Island farmer Ron Wallace constitutes “the first empirical evidence consistent with the documented existence of the Great Pumpkin,” and formally designated Mr. Wallace’s pumpkin patch the most sincere in the United States for 2026.
The pumpkin, weighed on October 10 at the Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Growers Weigh-Off at Frerichs Farm in Warren, is the first ever to surpass 3,000 pounds and is recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest fruit in recorded history. It exceeded the previous record, a 2,857-pound pumpkin grown in Britain by Ian Paton, by nearly 300 pounds. Competitive growers ordinarily advance the record by 20 to 30 pounds at a time.
“Sincerity is not a metaphor for size,” said Linus Van Pelt, the Foundation’s executive director, in a statement. “But size at this magnitude is difficult to explain without it.”
According to Foundation doctrine, the Great Pumpkin rises each Halloween night from the pumpkin patch he judges most sincere, and delivers toys to children. The Foundation, which Mr. Van Pelt has led since its founding, evaluates several thousand patches annually against criteria that include the absence of mockery, the absence of animatronics, and what its inspection manual describes as “a settled willingness to be believed in.” Mr. Wallace’s patch ranked first in all categories. It is the first patch in Rhode Island to receive the designation.
The Foundation cited the particulars of the growing season. The record pumpkin was planted from seed on April 15 and raised in a greenhouse, where at its peak it gained 60 pounds a day — in some weeks nearly 500 pounds. Mr. Wallace, who in 2006 grew the first pumpkin to break 1,500 pounds and in 2012 the first to break 2,000, credited scientific method, controlled conditions, and what he called “top of the line genetics.”
“We are told this is agriculture,” Mr. Van Pelt said. “The Foundation is prepared to accept that it is also an announcement.”
The Foundation announced that its members will camp in Mr. Wallace’s patch on the night of October 31, from sundown until the appearance, or until dawn, whichever concludes the vigil. Attendance is expected to exceed two hundred members, who are instructed to bring lawn chairs, quiet voices, and their own blankets. Mr. Van Pelt, who has attended a vigil every Halloween since childhood, will bring the blue blanket he has brought since he was four.
Also expected is Sally Brown, who has attended every vigil since childhood and who refers to Mr. Van Pelt as her “Sweet Baboo.” The Foundation’s program guide lists her, as it has for decades, under “guests of the Director.” Mr. Van Pelt has never confirmed the arrangement. His office asks that he be addressed by his title.
A splinter group, the Gourd-First Fellowship, announced a competing vigil in Massachusetts, where the record pumpkin itself is appearing at a festival before being carved as the world’s largest jack-o’-lantern. The Fellowship holds that sincerity resides in the gourd. Mr. Van Pelt dismissed the claim in the Foundation’s statement. “He rises in the patch,” he said. “He has always risen in the patch. The gourd is evidence. The patch is the address. The Foundation does not recognize splinter vigils.”
Mr. Wallace, reached at his farm, appeared untroubled by the designation. “You ever see anybody say a bad word about a pumpkin?” he said. “When you see one of these giants, everybody is just in awe.”
Mr. Van Pelt’s sister, Lucy Van Pelt, declined to endorse the designation. Asked for comment, she said her brother remained, as ever, a blockhead. Mr. Van Pelt’s office noted that she has issued the same statement annually for sixty years and that the Foundation files it under “continuing family support.”
After Halloween, the record pumpkin will complete its festival appearances, be carved, and ultimately be composted, as is customary. Mr. Wallace will save its seeds and donate them to pumpkin-growing clubs around the world, which auction them to raise funds. The Foundation confirmed that it intends to bid on the seeds, which it classifies as relics.
The town has approved the Foundation’s encampment permit for the night of October 31. The application lists the expected attendance as 214 members, 60 invited guests, and, in the space provided for additional attendees, a single entry, in Mr. Van Pelt’s handwriting: “One, arriving by his own means.”
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