Napa Farmer Wins Giant Pumpkin Contest In Elk Grove

ELK GROVE (CBS/AP) -- A Napa farmer has won a California contest with a record-setting 1,806-pound pumpkin that judges nicknamed "The Flying Saucer" because of its wide and flat shape.

The Sacramento Bee reports grower Tim Mathison was one of about 50 big pumpkin farmers to haul their heaviest crops to the annual weigh-in at the Elk Grove Giant Pumpkin & Harvest Festival.

Mathison collected $12,000 in prize money but he says the most important part of Saturday's event was sharing it with his 28-year-old Tara, who uses a wheelchair. He says she was with him almost every night as he tended to his patch.

The pumpkin beat last year's monster pumpkin, which weighed in at 1,584 pounds. But no one came close to beating the current national record for heaviest pumpkin - 2,154 pounds.

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