"Great Pumpkin" Disqualified

WAITSBURG – "When I thought of all the things that could possibly go wrong with growing a giant pumpkin, this is the last thing I would have expected," said Gayle Broom. Her group's pumpkin was the largest at the Walla Walla fair, weighing in at 195 ½ pounds, but failed to bring home a ribbon because of a (disputed) late entry.

Broom grew her first giant pumpkin, weighing 114 pounds, in 2013 and took first place in the weight class at the Walla Walla County fair. In 2014, Rebecca Whitehurst and Brayden Wood joined Broom in her pumpkin-growing efforts, and again took first place at the f...