Frank Lanterman, left, and Jerry Rose III, prepare to weigh a pumpkin Saturday during the 30th annual Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers weigh-off at Parks Garden Center in Canfield. This pumpkin came in at 1,983.5 pounds.

CANFIELD — On one hand, lifting up others can be highly beneficial to others, but on the other, it can be quite strenuous and painful — especially to one’s back.

“I grew four pumpkins this year, and this is my biggest one,” Glenn Hoornstra of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, said, referring to a 2,226.5-pound pumpkin he recently harvested.

Suffice it to say that Hoornstra hardly lifted then carried his gigantic pumpkin 550 miles from his northern Michigan home to the Mahoning Valley, though he was able to transport it that distance to be entered in the 30th annual Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkins Growers weigh-off Saturday afternoon at Parks Garden Center, 9010 Youngstown-Salem Road.

Thirty-four giant pumpkins were entered and were among the 92 entries for the event, Tim Parks, the garden center’s owner, noted. Awards were distributed also for the heaviest tomato, field pumpkin, watermelon, bushel gourd and green squash, as well as the longest sunflower and gourd.

The heaviest 10 pumpkins Saturday weighed an average of 2,203 pounds, Parks said.

Hoornstra, who works for a construction business, said he used a large vehicle to lift the pumpkin, called an Atlantic Giant, onto a palate from a greenhouse on his property. Despite a rather rainy and cool summer in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the pumpkin was pollinated June 12 and able to be harvested 117 days later, which was last week, in part because of better weather last month, he added.

Taking top honors for the heaviest pumpkin were Dave and Carol Stelts of Enon Valley, Pa., whose bright-yellow one had an official weight of 2,731.5 pounds.

“We’re going to smash the Grower of the Year,” Dave Stelts said, referring to a competition in which the winner has the highest combined weight of three pumpkins.

Stelts, who already has broken his own Pennsylvania record he recently set with a 2,464-pound pumpkin, noted that 63-year-old twin brothers Ian and Stuart Paton of Lymington, England, hold the record for the heaviest individual pumpkin.

The couple’s secret? Ideal soil conditions, the right type of seed, a lot of work and plenty of water, Carol Stelts said.

Also aiding in their pumpkin’s exponential growth was having 10 acres on which is a pumpkin patch, combined with green manure and compost, Dave Stelts added.

In addition, the couple plan to display three of their pumpkins in the Pittsburgh Monster Pumpkin Festival this weekend in the city’s Strip District, he said.

Taking home an award for having the longest gourd was John Schoeni of Beloit, whose entry was about 11 feet.

“I have an over 4,000-square-foot garden and a trellis over 14 feet high,” Schoeni, who retired after having worked for the Mahoning County Public Health Department, said. “The vines climb and cover the trellis. Once you get a bloom, you trim off all the gourds except one so it gets all the nutrients of the plant.”

Schoeni, who also volunteers for the Ohio State University Extension Service’s Master Gardeners program, said his winning entry was the longest gourd he’s grown in seven years. In addition, he used a tape measure to measure the gourd nightly and discovered that in a single 24-hour period, it had grown 9 inches.

The average growing period is 40 to 45 days, Schoeni said, adding that a man in Canada holds the world record with a 173-inch gourd.

Also, Schoeni appreciates events such as Saturday’s Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkins weigh-off because they provide him opportunities to learn and exchange information with other participants, he continued.

Parks expressed high confidence that it’s not a question of if Stelts will continue to go places with his heavy companions, but when.

“He’s going to end up being Grower of the Year for the world,” Park said, adding that his was the largest pumpkin ever shown in Ohio.

Giant Pumpkin Growers results

TOP 3 HEAVIEST PUMPKINS

• Dave and Carol Stelts, Enon Valley, Pa., 2,731.5 pounds

• Earl Thompson, Rockford, Michigan, 2,670 pounds

• Quinn Werner, Saegertown, Pa., 2,369.5 pounds

Biggest sunflower: Jerry Rose, Huntsburg, 29.75 inches

Heaviest tomato: Rose, 5.52 pounds

Longest gourd: John Schoeni, Beloit, 132 3/8 inches

Heaviest field pumpkin: Jay Yohe, Export, Pa., 166 pounds

Heaviest watermelon: Bill Neptune, New Concord, Ohio, 245 pounds

Heaviest bushel gourd: Werner, 450.5 pounds

Largest green squash: Werner, 1,738.5 pounds

SOURCE: Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers