What to Know
- The 2024 Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-off Winner, a 2,471-pound pumpkin nicknamed Rudy, will be carved at Nights of the Jack, a seasonal pumpkin-filled attraction
- King Gillette Ranch in Calasbasas
- Two live carving events, presented by Raising Cane's, will take place at the Calabasas pumpkin attraction on Oct. 27 and 29; Todd Graves, the owner of Raising Cane's as well as the pumpkin, will be on-hand to unveil it Oct. 30
- Viewing of the carving events and unveiling is included with your Nights of the Jack ticket
Where do championship-winning pumpkins, those seed-filled superstars that regally rule the scales at mega fall showdowns, go directly after they win those sought-after trophies?
That's a question that plenty of pumpkin-loving people surely have in mind as they watch ginormous gourds being lowered onto scales with the help of heavy machinery.
Many of the planet's plumpest pumpkins move onto display, at least briefly, at the Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival, an annual celebration that takes place around the middle of October.
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Half Moon Bay is where the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-off takes place a few days ahead of the festival's opening, with some of the biggest pumpkins on Earth rolling into town to try for the ultimate autumnal accolade.
The winner of the 2024 competition, a 2,471-pound wonder grown by Travis Gienger of Anoka, Minnesota, made a stop at the Half Moon Bay fest. Now, the eye-popping victor will roll for a place that is beautifully brimming with pumpkin magic: Nights of the Jack, a seasonal attraction at King Gillette in Calabasas.
A live carving will take place on Oct. 27 and 29, giving the prodigious pumpkin an incredible last chapter to its storied run, a tale that began in April 2024 with the planting of a pumpkin seed.
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Acclaimed carvers and Food Network stars Eric Jones, Monique Hawks, and William E. Wilson will be in attendance, adding to the star power of the squash-centric celebration.
Todd Graves, the owner of Raising Cane's, will be on hand on Oct. 30 to unveil the freshly carved work of art (Mr. Graves is the celebrity squash's owner). If you've got a ticket to Nights of the Jack on either of the carving nights or the unveiling nights, you can admire the gourd's grandeur in-person.
The pumpkin will feature a "360-degree, fully 3D carving," a look that will surely inspire at-home carvers looking to step up their jack-focused carving game.
Travis Gienger is a well-known pumpkin pro known for producing famous and capacious fruits; he has won World Championship competition four times, so count on the Calabasas event to feature a show-stopping specimen of considerable size.
For more about Nights of the Jack, roll like a pumpkin by this site now.
