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Georgetown, Ontario

If a grower brings two sound pumpkins to a weigh off and wants an official weight on both I realize they can only enter one officially but when does the grower have to decide which one is official and which one is exhibition?
Can they weigh them both first and put the heaviest one in the competition and the other as EXH? Or do they have to decide when registering which is which.

9/15/2014 1:40:34 PM

British Columbia, Canada

Great question, I've been wondering that for a while, too.

9/15/2014 2:13:03 PM

Waterville, Ohio

Heaviest will be the one weighed official I believe.

9/15/2014 2:16:40 PM

Ham Lake, Minnesota

GPC Article II, 5a. Entries other than the grower’s one official entry will be entered as “EXH – exhibition” for legal fruit and “DMG – damaged” for illegal fruit.

I take it that a grower shall declare an official entry and additional entries at time of registration prior to the beginning of the event.

9/15/2014 3:08:35 PM

Central Minnesota

I have been to weighoffs where I brought two similar sized pumpkins. The bigger one was my official entry the other exhibition. Whether that is right or wrong, it has been done that way before.

9/15/2014 3:19:31 PM

Colorado

I think they have to be declared before weighing. I don't like that situation. Then you have to pre-weigh, takes some of the mystery away.

9/15/2014 4:38:30 PM

Ham Lake, Minnesota

It's a situation where the grower knows their OTT, has a choice to make and is a betting folk or a preweighing folk ;)

9/15/2014 5:29:24 PM

Rhode Island

just imagine if everyone brought two pumpkins so they could pick the heaviest? most weigh-off with any sizable amount of entries would take far to long if multiple pumpkins from each grower were weighted.
just my two cents.
i do know at the smaller weigh-offs this is not a problem and not as big a concern.
pap

9/15/2014 5:49:09 PM

Western NY

Have never heard of weighing 2 pumpkins and then taking heaviest for entry, 1 is entry and 1 is exhibition.

9/15/2014 6:48:15 PM

Frankfort Ohio

I have guys bring what they want but must pick the one for compation the others still are ofical just donot count for prise money

9/15/2014 7:22:05 PM

Georgetown, Ontario

Thanks for the replies everyone. The reason I ask is that I help run a GPC weigh off and somebody asked me this question today and I didn't have an answer. My personal opinion is that you need to decide what is official and what is exh at the time of registration before the event begins as Alex B states above. But I can't seem to find a clear rule that states that. Seeing from the responses most people feel the same way but some people interpret the rule differently. Since everybody bringing a pumpkin to a GPC event should be treated the same regardless of where they go or how big or small the weigh off is I think it would be great if we could get a clarification on the rule.

9/15/2014 7:42:29 PM

Mtn. Green, Utah

We run into this situation all the time because the next closest weigh-off site is an 8 hour drive. To my knowledge, the grower does not have to declare which pumpkin they are going to enter as "official" prior to weighing. If this were the case, it would have affected our first and second place entries last year.

9/16/2014 1:43:00 AM

Gays Mills, Wisconsin

The decision is up to the event organizers. Some weigh-offs allow two entries. I believe if they were both heavy enough for GPC placing, only one per weigh-off would be paid. Good Luck.

9/16/2014 7:14:00 AM

Williamsburg,KY

I have taken two pumpkins to a Weigh Off, paid for two enteries, one in my name, one in my husbands, both placed but I only accepted one prize. I just wanted my husband to get his name in the books for all the patience he had with me that year. At that time the Weigh Off was small and there wasn't a problem. Now that the Weigh Off is larger, I would not do that again. But I have seen a grower bring two, one in his name, one in his wife's name and claim two prizes. Im assuming the husband and wife each grew their own, only they know that answer. That is a good question John.

9/16/2014 7:53:19 AM

Western NY

The GPC does not have an official ruling on it one way or another, just that the "extra(s)" have to be labeled EXH in the results. The site can handle it either way, but should communicate their stance to the growers prior to the contest if it is an issue.

That said, I personally have no problem with a grower bringing two and weighing both at a contest and taking the heavier weight as their official entry.

Why? Otherwise, you're just forcing growers to buy a scale, pre-weigh their pumpkins at home and they're STILL going to count their heaviest anyway.

9/16/2014 10:23:50 AM

Ham Lake, Minnesota

I think a grower should have to declare an offical pumpkin up front so the event can get their ducks in a row and not have any fooling around and catering. Put your best horse in the race and be done with it. If two pumpkins is a dilemma, be grateful you had two to choose from to enter. Consider the growers who only have room to grow one at best.

9/16/2014 11:37:27 AM

Connecticut, USA

I would like to know why some growers have only one entry and it is marked as EXH.

9/16/2014 11:44:14 AM

Ham Lake, Minnesota

One way is by GPC rule if the pumpkin had been entered elsewhere in competition it would not be eligible to be entered as offical in any GPC event. A grower may simply have kept it and brought it with to show and maybe to also see how much weight it had lost for instance.

9/16/2014 12:05:09 PM

Georgetown, Ontario

Alex B I would hope that's not the case that an EXH pumpkin was weighed somewhere else. I believe the GPC counts EXH pumpkins when calculating top 10 averages for sites. I would hate to think the same pumpkin could be included in more than one sites top 10 average. Ken D, I can't think of a reason a grower would have one entry that is an EXH other than it was weighed somewhere else already or it was entered wrong and should be DMG.

9/16/2014 12:25:47 PM

Connecticut, USA

That is exactly my point. If a pumpkin is damaged, it should be entered that way.

9/16/2014 12:51:55 PM

South East

Picking an official entry before measuring and weighing fruit should certainly be a weigh off rule. It would make a logical addition to the current set of regulations. What people weigh at home is their own business, you cant regulate that, you can however regulate procedures at the weigh off site.

And if EXH pumpkins count toward top ten average doesn't that inflate the real numbers. (is EXH for display only?)

9/16/2014 12:56:54 PM

Joliet, IL

i personally have picked the wrong pumpkin as my official pumpkin and which one was exhibition and lost a little prize money and bragging rights at Bengtsons Farm. i have the same scenario this year as one pumpkin may go heavy and one light when i bring multiple pumpkins. its my choice not to pre-weigh because i like the excitement of not knowing until weigh off day.

we make each grower declare which one is their official entry and which is their exhibition prior to starting the weigh-off. i believe this to be fair to my fellow competitors. i believe its up to each grower to pre-weigh or not to pre-weigh if they are uncertain. just my opinion and those coming to Bengtsons Farms in Homer Glen know that this is how we have done it for past weigh-offs and will continue to have it set up that way in the future.

9/16/2014 3:00:56 PM