Overview
- The 2025 West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta took place Sunday in Tualatin, where competitors paddled hollowed pumpkins across a human-made lake before cheering spectators.
- Gary Kristensen, dressed as Buddy the Elf, won his heat in a 936-pound pumpkin and earlier this year claimed a Guinness World Record after a roughly 58-mile Columbia River voyage.
- Kristensen said he shapes plants for more kayak-like pumpkins but borrowed a friend’s gourd this year after a fungal infection spoiled his own crop.
- Races are organized into multiple quarter-mile heats for growers, sponsors, local officials and two public fields selected by lottery, with a costume contest won by Parker Johnson as the Very Hungry Caterpillar.
- Organizers used forklifts to lower giant pumpkins into the water, competitors carved and scooped them lighter for speed, and growers including Brad Bahns brought personal-record gourds, supported by the Pacific Giant Vegetable Growers.