Half Moon Bay will livestream weigh-off
The festival's off, but nonprofits get a big financial boost from community leader
The pumpkins have been lying in fields, packing on the pounds like residents sheltering-in-place.
And come Monday, they will be hefted by forklifts and harnesses onto the scale for the 47th annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh- Off in Half Moon Bay.
You can log on to watch. The event will be livestreamed on Facebook from 7 a.m. until about 11 a.m., when the last of the gargantuan gourds gets weighed. Besides bragging rights, big prize money is at stake — $30,000 for a pumpkin that squashes the world record, and $7 a pound if not. Other prizes will be given for Most Beautiful Pumpkin, Biggest California Pumpkin and Biggest Coastside Pumpkin.
Last year’s winner, grown by Leonardo Urena of Napa, tipped the scales at 2,175 pounds, setting a new California record.
The event is normally open to the public. But because of the coronavirus pandemic, attendance will be limited to growers and their immediate family, event staffers and the media. All will be required to
wear masks and adhere to San Mateo County’s health and safety rules.
COVID-19 has also forced the cancellation of the accompanying Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival, the biggest event of the year in this coastal community and, for many service organizations, their largest fundraiser.
This week, benefactor and booster Joseph W. Cotchett announced he would address the loss of that money by donating $200,000 to those groups. The new fund he inspired is called PPP, the Pumpkin Power Project, and it’s being administered by the festival’s nonprofit Half Moon Bay Beautification Committee.
“The festival assists in giving back to all of the wonderful nonprofits helping those in need,” Cotchett said in a statement. “It is an honor and privilege to support all of the folks who work tirelessly on the festival every year.”
Cotchett has pledged an additional $100,000 in matching funds. Tax- deductible donations toward that goal may be made online at Pumpkinfest.MiramarEvents.com or by sending a check to the HMB Beautification Committee, P.O. Box 274, Half Moon Bay 94019.
Find Monday’s livestream link at Facebook.com/halfmoonbaypumpkinweighoff.