The world's biggest pumpkin record fell twice in one week — and ended at 3,156 pounds

Pumpkin growers rarely see their record fall twice in a week. British grower Ian Paton first took the world title on 3 October with a 2,856-pound pumpkin he tended for six hours a day. Seven days later in Rhode Island, 60-year-old Ron Wallace — growing giant pumpkins for 35 years and holding the record twice before, in 2006 and 2012 — weighed in at 3,156 pounds (1,431.5 kg), the first pumpkin ever past 3,000 pounds. He chose his small hometown weigh-off, worth £2,650 (about $3,500), over far richer contests elsewhere, to celebrate with his own community.