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Buffalo, MN (Billsbigpumpkins@hotmail.com)

Children and usually young ladies prompted by someone love to climb on pumpkins at weigh-offs. We have tried signs to no avail. What do other weigh-offs do? I was thinking that maybe an area set aside where growers that did not want pumpkins climbed on.

10/13/2014 1:20:53 PM

British Columbia, Canada

Hire a bodyguard for the pumpkin :)

10/13/2014 1:29:35 PM

East Jordan, MI

put a rope fence up 4 ft from the pumpkins with a sign that says no entry.

10/13/2014 1:37:29 PM

Wixom MI.

Hire mr. T

10/13/2014 1:38:16 PM

Nottingham, UK

Climbing on them is one thing but at a weigh off I attended last year one of the pumpkins was vandalised by having a name carved into it. This was within an hour of being weighed. I had donated one of mine to an artist who travelled over 250 miles to pick it up only to find the same damage.

It's the very reason why I will not display one outside my house for Halloween as I do not want to be dissapointed when it gets vandalised, and it will get vandalised

10/13/2014 1:53:29 PM

Georgetown, Ontario

At our weigh off the pumpkins are on display all weekend and we just have three foot high stakes around the pumpkins with orange trail marking tape roping off the area. We also have two small signs that read "Feel free to take pictures but PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH. It works like a charm because when we get ready to load up after the fair and remove the tape, it usually takes about 5 minutes and somebody is climbing on the pumpkins. A few years ago before we did this it was crazy with non-stop people climbing, jumping, and molesting the pumpkins. You practically had to beat them off the wagon with a stick.

10/13/2014 2:37:39 PM

Concord, CA.

Bring a big (inside totally rotted) one to the weigh-off. Place it out where its easiest to get to in the line of pumpkins. Wait till someone falls thru the top and then see how folks will stay off of them thereafter.

10/13/2014 3:17:57 PM

Granite Bay-California

Grab the parent by the neck and tell them to keep their brats off the pumpkin!

10/13/2014 3:29:35 PM

Pocatello (cliffwarren@yahoo.com)

I wonder if that's what the two guys in dark suits were doing, watching Beni's pumpkin? I think it varies by location. At my local fair they put a decorative "white picket fence" around the pumpkins and nobody touches them. I have pumpkins come back from the fair where thousands of people have walked past and they have not a single scratch.

I always try to teach people the "unwritten rules" of the sport. "No touching the pumpkin until after it is weighed!" I may have a bunch of neighbors come over with their kids. They learn quickly that they cannot touch the pumpkin, until after my weighoff. Later when I place it in the center of my front yard they can climb all over it.

It's amazing all the work that goes into a weighoff. To the thousands of other items, add: "Ask someone to watch over the pumpkins in the display area to keep them safe." Check.

10/13/2014 4:05:15 PM

Muddy Waters

I find a baseball bat works best on the oblivious parent.

10/13/2014 4:13:58 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

My Pretty Pumpkins are grown for this day. To have there picture taken. I had to pull one kid off, who ignored me. Then proceeded to jump back on it again. I then kindly grabbed the back of his jacket and removed him from my pumpkin. The mother then came in fast and hard. I let her know this is my pumpkin. I have worked all year for this pumpkin. If your child does not want to listen, you don't get to take a picture with my pumpkin. They are not playgrounds. Girls with fingernails that purposely scratch them are next on my list. Also if you kick it I amy kick you. :)

10/13/2014 4:14:16 PM

Pocatello (cliffwarren@yahoo.com)

What we're talking about is cultural problems. There are so many parents out there who haven't said "No." to their kids in forever. When we visit someone, I would be horrified if my kids went and did something at their home, something of the sort that we are discussing. Until they're "converted", when we're heading out to something, we "set the expectations", so to speak. Actually verbally describing to them what is acceptable behaviour and what is what is not.

So when people bring their spoiled brats over and they're actually running toward the pumpkin, still on the vine, ready to pounce, I have no trouble telling them firmly, "No." They might as well hear it once in their lives. ;-) <rant off> Carry on...

10/13/2014 4:19:07 PM

Pocatello (cliffwarren@yahoo.com)

This is coming from someone who had a hatchet taken to his eventual Howard Dill winner this year. Yep, someone put a hatchet into it's side, about an inch in. Middle of August. Fortunately for Captan, it remained a HD winner.

10/13/2014 4:25:58 PM

Anamosa, IA BPIowegian@aol.com

We put signs on them at Anamosa, but little kids don't read. Concerned growers shoo them off. The most fun I had at a weigh off was a few years ago when my son grew a 866# bright orange birdbath. We let parents set their little kids on it for photos. Most were polite enough to ask for permission first. Even little babies could safely be set on it. There were a lot of thrilled parents. A few weeks later we saw a color photo of a real little baby in it on the front of the family section of the Sunday Quad City Times. But if I see kids climbing on anyone's pumpkin I gently remind then to stay off. It usually works. Either I'm big and scary or look too much like Santa Claus spying on them that they don't argue.

10/13/2014 6:40:10 PM

Littlerock, WA

I grow giant pumpkins so I can climb on them, sit on them and pose with them in all sorts of silly ways. I can't help myself! But, I would never climb on one that wasn't my own!

10/13/2014 7:07:07 PM

South Bloomfield, Ohio

Bill, you raise a good question. We tried the signs this year and, for the most part, it helped but didn't prevent altogether. Operation Pumpkin wants us to allow the public to stroll through and admire the pumpkins, but there is no way to keep all kids off the pumpkins. Parents are oblivious to what they mean to the growers. Our meeting this spring with OP will have us insisting that they be cordoned off.

10/13/2014 7:50:28 PM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

I'm with Cindy, rather than fight it, we allow (even help the little buggers up) so their oblivious parents can take a picture of their little precious on top of a giant pumpkin. If there is a particularly grumpy grower that does want their pumpkin mounted, or a prized Howard Dill winner that someone wants to take home in pristine condition, then they may guard or protect the pumpkin themselves....for us....it's all about the kids anyways.

10/13/2014 8:02:15 PM

Ankeny, Iowa

I don't understand why people vandalize pumpkins either. I've had a couple of mine vandalized over the years. I guess people don't know how hard we work to grow the giants.

10/13/2014 8:47:55 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

While I agree with NSB, this particular grower grows to please the crowd, and provide them a pumpkin for pictures. I disagree that you should just let them be allowed to go wild on it, and have disrespect for something you have work so hard on. The audience needs to have respect for what we have grown.If I charged a dollar for every kid I hoisted on my pumpkin on Saturday. I bet I would have collected more than the winning prize. As soon as the rope comes down I have to have someone protect my pumpkin. Go to collect my prize money and award. Come back to kids kicking and scratching my pumpkin,trying to break the stem off.

10/13/2014 9:01:17 PM

Central NY

I think I'm with the north shore boys...I get a real thrill when I can see a kid smile... we leave it on display for the little ones to take pics with....I too will help them up, but if they scratch it I'll stab that little fucker in the neck...

10/13/2014 10:25:23 PM

Concord, CA.

Porkchop,
Your sentiments are understandable, but your use of the colorful language needs to be used elsewhere.

10/13/2014 11:11:15 PM

Minnesota

Or sacrifice one, like with the pumpkin drop, put in a picturesque setting, complete with, take your picture here with a giant pumpkin. Let them stand, jump, lay on it if they like.

10/14/2014 1:12:18 AM

Littlerock, WA

My pumpkin was at the state fair on display for 3 weeks and people posed with it for probably thousands of photos, and when I brought it home, there wasn't a mark on it. It has been my experience that people have been very respectful to my giant pumpkins. They're so unbelievably large, you've just got to touch them to prove to yourself that they're real!

10/14/2014 1:31:27 AM

Williamsburg,KY

I was at a Weigh Off and actually seen a grown man, use the stem as a step and jump on top of the pumpkin. I hollered at him and he just thought it was funny. If there was a rope around the winner, this wouldn't have happened. Then at the same weigh off, a little kid ran up to a winning melon and was gonna kick it. I hollard ...hey..well the parent had a fit that I yelled at his precious child. Whatever, I saved that melon. Then Ive seen pumpkin stems with so much sulfur on them and watch kids touch it. Of course I told the parent to make sure she washed the childs hands. Growers need to clean up their pumpkins before the weigh off. That's another thread.

10/14/2014 6:01:40 AM

Muddy Waters

Im in the middle on this.I see it really doesnt hurt much them crawling on them till Kidzillia comes along kicking at the stem going nuts on your prized possession that you may have set up for later engagements..So maybe an alternative would be to have one kin a dmg set aside for photos and abuse.Even put a box there and say photos taken & gymnasium here 1$ per child.lol Then stand there form a line & make some money for your weigh-off!

10/14/2014 6:21:16 AM

Central NY

Sorry bout the language... Won't happen again

10/14/2014 6:59:02 AM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

Would you let them crawl on your Truck?

10/14/2014 7:30:02 AM

I put a pic of one of mine that stayed at fair they peeled skin off and more
im thinking a layer of axle grease would stop a few


http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=230657

10/14/2014 7:45:07 AM

Germany

Option 1): Put up a sign which reads that some of the pumpkins have been treated with contact poisonous insecticides etc., so please don´t touch and WATCH YOUR KIDS!!!

Option 2): Put up a sign which reads "Whatever you do to the pumpkin, the grower reserves the right to do the same to you! (Please be patient and wait next to the pumpkin for the grower to meet you.)" (...probably depends on the grower whether people decide to kiss the pumpkin or not, but as soon as parents allow their kids to sit on the pumpkin...well, they should have read the warning)

10/14/2014 8:04:13 AM

Central Illinois

If you do allow children on your pumpkin ,they should be told not to touch the other pumpkins.
I think that some people just dont think about it, they see photos of children on pumpkins so they may think its normal,small pumpkins are tossed around with no problems so a monster size one must be pretty tough and pumpkins are dropped from cranes and smashed. Carved chopped and eaten.

10/14/2014 8:13:05 AM

Wheaton, IL

We put Vaseline on them. Stays on all season and is disgusting if you don't know what it is. Most think its pumpkin slime. Works great and fun to watch people's reactions.

10/14/2014 8:51:39 AM

Pocatello (cliffwarren@yahoo.com)

To be honest, aside from the unexplained hatchet episode, my biggest problem are skunks. They clawed one of mine this year, but not the HD winner, lol.

10/14/2014 11:08:03 AM

Pocatello (cliffwarren@yahoo.com)

Don Young, that picture is sad. I'd tell them that I'm not coming again unless they vow to do a better job. At my small fair there is a fence, and someone "on duty" watching the displays at all times. They post a sign, "Please do not touch, and yes, they are real."

10/14/2014 11:24:23 AM

Smithville, Tn

17 pumpkins ranging in size from 400-1400. It's that really pretty HD winner that all the mommas want to plop their snot nose kid on it with their hard sole boots and hot wheels cars in both hands. Not to mention the snaps and rivets on their pants. We baby these kins for months, covered in tents and blankets and tarps.Cringing at the thought of a mouse or a mole living underneath. We haul them hundreds of miles to a weighoff only to have noone care about all the time and attention and energy we have poured into these prize winning fruits. Site coordinators could be a little more helpful with this issue. Maybe rope off an area for the kins especially before weighing. Is this too much to ask??

10/15/2014 10:56:11 PM

Utah

Lots of big signs .... and/or roped off like others have suggested.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10204827015225811&set=a.10204827009905678.1073741838.1551636678&type=1&theater

10/19/2014 11:49:14 AM