Giant pumpkin weighing 2,175 pounds sets California record

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. -- A California pumpkin hobbyist has won first place at the 46th annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh Off, setting a record for the largest in California. Leonardo Urena won $15,000 Monday when his pumpkin logged 2,175 pounds. A weigh-off spokesman said Urena's pumpkin is the second largest in the contest's history. A pumpkin from Washington state weighed nearly 2,400 pounds and won in Half Moon Bay in 2017. Urena said he took up the hobby in 2000 and enjoys the pumpkin growing community. He also won the Half Moon Bay contest in 2011. Urena said he always tells his pumpkins he's proud of them and he encourages them to keep growing.