The great pumpkin of the fair

Justin Holland’s pumpkin is so big that Nez Perce County Fair organizers didn’t have a scale big enough to weigh it when it arrived at the grounds.

Even absent that measurement, it still earned ribbons for “Best in Show” for the open class in vegetables and “Biggest” for being the largest pumpkin. Unofficially, it could be one of the most compelling attractions at this year’s Nez Perce County Fair.

The enormous squash was attracting stares as it sat prominently on a pallet of the Nez Perce County Fair Pavilion on Thursday, the first day of the fair. A number of children walked up to it and leaned on it or put their hands on it.

The attention surprised Holland who raised the gigantic pumpkin at his Kendrick-area home in a summer when his rural neighborhood was evacuated for part of the season for wildfires.

The pumpkin probably weighs about 560 pounds, roughly as much as three people, Holland said.

“I did it my first year,” he said. “I didn’t expect to win. I (thought) there would be a 1,000 pounder in there.”

The process of raising the jaw-droppingly huge pumpkin began with online research that involved watching YouTube segments, Holland said.

He ordered his seeds online from Wallace Organic Wonder. The pumpkin seeds, according to the business’ website, come from the private stock of Ron Wallace, a two-time Guinness World Record holder and three-time world champion.

“The seed is everything,” Holland said. “It’s got to have good genetics.”

Holland, who makes his living installing drywall, propagated the seeds inside on a heating pad before transplanting them outside after the last frost.

During the growing season, he tended to the plants for about one hour every day. He made sure that each vine only had a single pumpkin and applied large amounts of water and fertilizer, using different kinds depending on if he was encouraging the growth of the vines, blossoms or fruit.

The one he entered in the Nez Perce County Fair was the first to appear on its vine. It thrived even though it was partially detached from its stem, limiting the nutrients it could receive.

When summer ended, the pumpkin patch had overtaken his wife’s vegetable garden where she grows produce like tomatoes and green beans.

By the time the pumpkin was ready to harvest, it required a team effort of himself, his teenage son and a neighbor lifting it with a tractor’s bucket with straps, first onto a pallet and then into the back of his pickup truck, he said.

“I got to drive through Moscow with everyone staring at me,” Holland said.

Once he arrived at the fairgrounds, similar challenges surfaced in reverse. Not comprehending how truly oversized the pumpkin was, fair organizers asked him to carry it into the pavilion before realizing they needed a forklift.

Other pumpkins still in his garden are likely going to reach dimensions even more impressive than the one he entered at the Nez Perce County Fair, he said.

“There’s so much to it, I would have never even guessed,” Holland said.

His success has only fueled his enthusiasm for raising pumpkins. In 2025, his goal is to raise one that reaches 1,000 pounds.

But he plans to do one thing differently. He’s going to move his pumpkin patch to a spot much further away from his wife’s vegetable garden.

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.