By Steve Hubrecht
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If you’ve got a green thumb and live in Canal Flats, it’s time to get out into your garden.
The annual pumpkin, sunflower and squash growing contest is back in full swing again, with organizers eyeing a bumper crop.
Local resident Heidi Pronk started the contest about five years ago, and it’s been going strong ever since.
“I’m a fall lover; pumpkins, festivals, those kinds of things,” Pronk explained to the Pioneer. “I noticed that other communities had pumpkin growing contests and I figured I could do something like that here.”
This year’s contest actually launched back in June, but there’s still time for more gardeners and growers to register up until Tuesday, September 9th. Once the garden goods are grown, contestants can bring them to the Canal Flats civic centre on Tuesday, Sept. 16 when judges will measure and weigh the produce.
There will be prizes for biggest pumpkin, smallest pumpkin, biggest stem on a pumpkin, biggest squash by weight, largest sunflower head, smallest sunflower head, and tallest sunflower.
Last year saw the highest number of entrants in the contest yet, and Pronk is hoping for even more this year.
“It’s actually become pretty big,” she said.
Pronk is also keen to see if anyone can smash the contest’s all-time records: a pumpkin bigger than 60 inches and 78 pounds; a sunflower taller than nine feet and six inches; or a squash that weighs more than seven pounds.
Any variety of pumpkin, squash or sunflower is welcome, but it must be grown at home.
What’s the secret to the contest’s success?
Pronk said she’s not entirely sure, but guesses it is likely because there are plenty of avid gardeners in Canal Flats, because growing pumpkins, sunflowers and squash is something easily done as a whole family, and because it’s a great way for parents to teach their children about where food comes from.
To register, call or text Pronk at 250-342-7407.
How tall are your sunflowers?
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