Giant pumpkin with thumb-sized hole is ineligible for Alaska fair

J.D. Megchelsen, of Nikiski, Alaska, thought he had this year's giant pumpkin weigh-off in the bag with his 1,289-pound pumpkin, two pounds larger than the record set by his 2011 entry.

That is, until a thumb-sized hole at the bottom of his entry disqualified him from the Alaska State Fair competition. Contest rules prohibit pumpkins with holes or rot that reaches through to the cavity.

“It’s a bummer, but it’s the rules," Megchelsen told Alaska's Peninsula Clarion Tuesday.

“It’s just killing him,” Megchelsen’s sister-in-law, Pam Elkins, said. “He eats, sleeps and dreams pumpkins. All he does is pumpkins.”

Instead, the top prize went to Anchorage pumpkin grower Dale Marshall, whose 1,182-pound pumpkin would have lost to Megchelsen if it weren't for the hole.

Marshall, who once found a small hole in his 1,789-pound entry two years ago, sympathized with Megchelsen's ordeal.

"J.D. had a bigger pumpkin," he said. "I know what he's feeling."