Man wins California weigh-off with 2,170-pound pumpkin

Oct. 9 (UPI) -- An Oregon man won more than $15,000 when his giant pumpkin tipped the scales at more than 2,000 pounds at a California weigh-off.

Steve Daletas came in first Monday at the 45th annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-off in Half Moon Bay with a 2,170-pound pumpkin he grew at his Pleasant Hill, Ore., home.

Daletas was awarded $15,190, or $7 for each pound of his winning gourd. He said growing giant vegetables combines his love of gardening with his competitive streak.

"Why not grow something you can grow really big?" he told The Oregonian.

The prize-winning pumpkin will be on display during the upcoming weekend's Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival.

"If you think you have a chance to win, you've got to come down," Daletas, a three-time winner of the competition, told the Half Moon Bay Review. "There's something about the feel that this town has. We don't have that up where we are."