'That would be cool': Giant Pumpkin champion defends title and now wants to drop entry from crane

The Sault’s Brent Rouble took first place for growing the heaviest pumpkin at the Algoma Farmers Market’s annual Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off held Saturday at the Roberta Bondar Pavilion.

Rouble’s winning pumpkin weighed 636 pounds.

The win was a repeat for Rouble who won first place last yea with a gourd that weighed 897 pounds.

SooToday readers will recall the adventurous Rouble hollowed out last year’s winning giant pumpkin and paddled it for over 23 kilometres along the St. Marys River.

Rouble has competed in the Weigh Off for only the last two years - against seasoned pumpkin growers - and has taken first place on both occasions.

“In his defence, the pumpkin king Kieran O’Neill with the record number of wins didn’t compete these last two years,” Rouble said with a chuckle while chatting with SooToday.

Still, Rouble enjoyed repeating as Weigh Off champion, posing for photographs with family members surrounding his first place pumpkin outside the Pavilion Saturday.

The win is satisfying as this year’s growing season wasn’t the best.

“It was a weird year,” Rouble said.

“We had a lot of rain and a lot of sun but for some reason the pumpkins in my yard didn’t like it. I had a lot of vines, a lot of leaves, but the actual pumpkins had a hard time. I honestly thought it would be a better growing year than last year but it turned out to be bad for everybody. It was a rough year for pests too. I had pests attacking my pumpkins. There are raccoon paw prints on the winning pumpkin.”

Putting the time and effort into pumpkin growing is key, Rouble said, having planted his seeds in April.

“You have to plant the seeds early and hope for good weather, hoping it’s not too cold for them. You need tons of water and sunlight. Watering them is important. The PUC loves me. My hydro bill is through the roof with this stuff,” Rouble said humorously.

Rouble - who said he won’t be paddling any pumpkins down the St. Marys River this year due to family obligations - is still deciding what to do with this year’s prize gourd.

“I’d love to sell it if anyone wants to buy it. If not, I’d love to find someone with a crane and lift it up as high as it can go, drop it and smash it. That would be cool. Or it would be nice to hollow it out, fill it with candy, put it on the crane, drop it and let kids just get all the candy. I think that would be fun. If we could do that near The Machine Shop, I’d do it today.”

“Who wouldn’t want to see a giant pumpkin get smashed?” Rouble laughed.

Chris Faulkner, Ermatinger Clergue National Historic Site groundskeeper, agreed this year wasn’t the best for pumpkins.

Faulkner oversees the historic site’s garden and runs its Junior Gardeners program for children 16 and under. Faulkner entered pumpkins grown with the help of Junior Gardeners children in this year's Weigh Off.

“This year was a really different year as a growing season,” Faulkner said.

“The pumpkin we entered in this year’s Weigh Off was planted in April but didn’t even start growing large until August. It usually does that in July. September was such a great growing month and it grew like crazy. In July the nights were a lot cooler than they usually are. Beans and onions, I didn’t get any this year. Even our sunflowers took really late in the season. It was a really different year.”

Faulkner, however, was pleased that the Ermatinger Clergue National Historic Site’s Junior Gardeners took first place in the Weigh Off’s junior category with a 330-pound pumpkin. 

“The Junior Gardeners program starts in April. They come once a week for two hours and they help me plant the gardens in the way the early pioneers gardened. They make jams, pickles, all the types of things the early pioneers would’ve done. Growing pumpkins is something I connect to Francis Hector Clergue’s time period in the 1890s,” Faulkner said.

“The biggest gratification for me is that the kids are telling their parents they want to join the program and they have a lot of fun doing it, which is the main thing.”

Names of the 2024 Weigh Off’s top three contestants in the adult category and the weight of their pumpkins are:

• First place, Brent Rouble, 636 pounds
• Second place, Steve Rouble, 581 pounds
• Third place, Jonathan Reinke, 179 pounds

Pino’s Get Fresh gift cards of $200 and $100 went to first and second place winners respectively while a $50 gift card from Shaw Milling went to the third place contestant.

Names of the 2024 Weigh Off’s top three contestants in the junior category - 16 and under - and the weight of their pumpkins are:

• First place, Ermatinger Clergue National Historic Site’s Junior Gardeners, 330 pounds
• Second place, Brooklyn Reinke, 115 pounds
• Third place, Micah Reinke 112.8 pounds 

New North Greenhouses gift cards in amounts of $50, $30 and $20 went to children finishing in the top three spots.

Algoma Farmers Market vendors were on hand under the Roberta Bondar Pavilion during this year’s Weigh Off while children took part in fun activities.