Reigning giant pumpkin champ wins again at the Alaska State Fair

Dale Marshall of Anchorage continued his streak of giant pumpkin-growing supremacy at the Alaska State Fair’s weigh-off on Monday in Palmer, taking first place with a pumpkin that clocked in at 2,035 pounds.

In a contest with only two entrants, Marshall once again rose to the top with his Atlantic giant. Second place went to 5-year-old Silas Dinkel of Wasilla and his 734-pound pumpkin. The Dinkel family is known for producing giant cabbages that have appeared in another of the fair’s weigh-off events.

The seed for Marshall’s pumpkin this year is from his first-place entry in 2023. He said there’s also an online network of growers who trade back and forth that he can utilize.

“So if somebody someplace is growing a particular pumpkin I like, I’ll reach out to them, see if I can get a couple seeds off them,” he said.

Marshall has become a household name in the competition that’s now in its 18th year, setting a state record for giant pumpkins in 2019 and then breaking it with his entry in 2022. Marshall won again last year with a 2,023.5-pound pumpkin after a summer marked by persistent rain and clouds, but his 2022 record of 2,147 pounds still stands.

Ahead of Monday’s weigh-off, Marshall said he didn’t anticipate this year’s pumpkin would surpass his previous record. It had missed certain weight benchmarks along its 98-day journey that would have indicated a new record was within reach.

“This one just didn’t have the oomph that I needed to get to that level,” he said.

Marshall also lost a different giant pumpkin in mid-July that he had planned on entering.

“It weighed 1,150 pounds and split wide open,” he said.

Still, this year’s pumpkin was the fourth in the past five years to weigh in at over 2,000 pounds. As for what happens to championship pumpkins after their time in the state fair spotlight, Marshall will leave his outside for two to three weeks if he really wants to get the seeds out of it.

“Then it just sits in the compost pile and a wandering moose will take some bites out of it,” he said.

Up next: The fair’s 28th annual giant cabbage weigh-off will take place at 6 p.m. Friday at the Craig Taylor Farm Exhibits.