Pumpkin grower has repeat performance

HALF MOON BAY

Minnesotan’s 2,471-pound gourd is another winner ... for the third year in a row

LEFT: Staff members inspect a pumpkin during the 51st Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off. RIGHT: Brandon Dawson, center, celebrates his second-place pumpkin during the weigh-off on Monday. Dawson’s pumpkin weighed 2,465 pounds.

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Minnesota pumpkin grower Travis Gienger has done it again, winning Half Moon Bay honors Monday with a gourd that registered 2,471 pounds on the scales.

At the Safeway 51st annual World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off, all eyes were on the Gienger gourd from the start. The grower, who also teaches horticulture, had captured the 2023 title — and set a world record — with a 2,749-pound entry he nicknamed “Michael Jordan.” And the year before, he won with a 2,560-pounder he had hauled to the California coast.

Gienger’s winner will be one of the star attractions at this weekend’s Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival, with an appearance in the noontime parade. (Former San Francisco Giants star Matt Wiliams is the parade’s grand marshal.) Later, attendees can have their photo taken with the gargantuan gourd. The festival runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.

— Linda Zavoral