A Caneyville family is building a pumpkin-growing dynasty as they won the Largest Pumpkin Contest at the Kentucky State Fair for the second time since 2022.
The Josh Monin family took home the top prize at the event held on Saturday with a pumpkin weighing a whopping 1,621 pounds, only 43 pounds off the state fair record. Monin’s pumpkin, named “Princess Peach,” outweighed the second-place pumpkin by 231 pounds.
But, according to Monin, who’s been growing pumpkins since 2016, the award-winning gourd is not even the largest he has nurtured this year, he told one of the event’s emcees, Caneyville’s own Warren Beeler.
“This is not even my biggest. I’ve got one at home that should be bigger,” Monin told Beeler. In a social media post following the victory, Monin corrected himself, saying, “(I) still have two more on the vine at the house (that could be bigger than the contest winner). Stay tuned.”
Monin said the massive pumpkin, which was 64 days old on Saturday, was grown in a greenhouse where he “can control water and wind,” although he noted that the heat in the greenhouse can be a challenge.
When the pumpkin was officially weighed and its weight announced, Beeler shouted, “You know we grow ‘em bigger in Caneyville,” garnering a laugh from those in attendance.
Monin won the event in 2022, as well, with a pumpkin that weighed 1,508.2 pounds, which would have bested all competitors on Saturday except for Monin’s winning entry.
The Monin’s were awarded $3,242 for growing the largest pumpkin.
Monin, formerly the head football coach at Ohio County High School, is a social studies teacher at the school. He is originally from Elizabethtown.
To watch the contest, click here.
(Headline photo: Josh Monin, courtesy of Facebook)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
