Not content to win the Kentucky State Fair’s Largest Pumpkin Contest, a Caneyville man has set a state record for the largest pumpkin ever grown in the commonwealth.
While there is no Quadruple Crown in the pumpkin-growing universe, K105 is proclaiming Josh Monin the winner of the mythical, Pumpkin-Growing Quadruple Crown, after his gigantic gourds won pumpkin contests this year at the Kentucky State Fair, the Tennessee Valley Fair, the Nashville Fair and then, only days ago at Roberts Family Farms in Meade County, Monin shattered the state record for the largest pumpkin ever recorded in Kentucky.
Weighing 2,209 pounds, the giant pumpkin, named “Spike” by Monin’s five-year-old son Bennett, de-stroyed the previous state record by either 327 pounds or 546 pounds.
(There is conflicting information on the previous state record. One source says 1,882 pounds, others say 1,663 pounds.)
Monin’s state-record triumph in Meade County came after he won the Tennessee Valley Fair on September 4 with a pumpkin that weighed 1,684 pounds. At the Nashville Fair’s Giant Pumpkin and Watermelon Weigh-Off on September 10, Monin triumphed with a behemoth that weighed in at 1,598 pounds.
In total, Monin’s four 2025 award-winning pumpkins weighed 7,112 pounds, an average of 1,778 pounds.
Monin, after winning the Kentucky State Fair contest, gave fair warning to other pumpkins growers that other, larger pumpkins were biding their time on the vine in Caneyville.
“This is not even my biggest. I’ve got one at home that should be bigger,” Monin said. In a social media post following the Kentucky State Fair 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, who’s been growing pumpkins since 2016, credits his wife (and high school sweetheart at Central Hardin HS), Whitney, an Agronomist, and Bennett, with helping him cultivate the award-winning pumpkins at the family’s Grayson County homestead.
From the time the pumpkins, which arise from a specific genetic line, are planted in late April, the Monin family spends two to three hours per day using special fertilizers, working a drip irrigation system and spraying special pesticides to ensure his gourds grow large. Each pumpkin is granted 1,000 square feet of solitude and only one pumpkin per plant is grown, Monin said.
The jubilation shown by the Monin family (see video below) as their state-record pumpkin was weighed at the Roberts Family Farms event, is a testament to the hard work and commitment to excellence the family displays from the time the pumpkins are planted until harvest.
Victories are always sweeter when one knows the victory has been earned.
Video of the Monin family’s reaction when their state-record pumpkin is weighed at Roberts Family Farms in Meade County, courtesy of Meade County Tourism
(Headline photo: The Monin family with the Kentucky record-setting pumpkin, submitted by Josh Monin)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
