STILLMAN VALLEY, Ill. (WTVO) — An Ogle County woman, Theresa Miller, captured third place at the Heap’s Giant Pumpkin contest in Minooka, Ill. with her 1,600 lb pumpkin she named, ‘Baby’.
Miller said the pumpkin has been growing for roughly six months since May, at times even growing up to 60 pounds in just a matter of days.
“You never know what [the pumpkins] are going to look like,” said Miller. “[Baby] is my ugliest one, but you take what you can get! When we drive down the road with this one, it’s just funny to see people stop and take pictures.”
Miller said ‘Baby’ was bought by a family in downstate Illinois, where she says they will display her on their front lawn after getting carved.
Miller has been growing gigantic pumpkins for several years and has used a tight-knit network of fellow growers on social media to help mentor and develop a new generation of planters.
Her seeds are highly sought after because of the care and quality she puts into her craft, so customers from all over the world have bought from her including some from as far away as Germany and Poland.
‘Baby’ came up roughly 250 lbs short of the first-place winning pumpkin at the contest. The first-place pumpkin measured 1,849 pounds.
