ORR — Halloween came early to Orr last Saturday with the annual Orr Lions Club pumpkin weigh-in and associated festivities at the Orr Center.
Kids enjoyed art and pumpkin carving while everyone feasted on hot dogs and assorted goodies at a gaily decorated stand near the front entrance. But the main focus was on the weigh-in station on the sidewalk along the driveway.
Peter Redmond was the first to have his entry hoisted onto the scales, and the Buyck-grown pumpkin set the mark to beat at 143 pounds. A series of pickup trucks rolled through with worthy contenders, but at the end of the day Redmond’s pumpkin withstood all challengers to capture first prize. Redmond immediately donated his check back to the club to use for next year’s event.
Second prize went to Fae Laakkonen Gaylord, although it’s quite likely that her grandfather Curt Laakkonen had a big hand in cultivating the pumpkin that was bigger than Fae.
Fred Gutzman took third place. There were about seven pumpkins that fell into the big pumpkin category, with several others bringing smaller entries just to take advantage of the scales to find out their weights. The smallest of those came in at a respectable 43 pounds.