Family wins large in pumpkin festival

A family of four took home 10 different prizes from the Pumpkin Carnival held in the Hamilton Gardens recently.

A family of four took home 10 different prizes from the Pumpkin Carnival held in the Hamilton Gardens recently.

Stanley, Cheryl, Stania and Beanie Klegr proved the team to beat in the world of pumpkin growing.

Beanie, Cheryl, Stanley and Stania Klegr with their award-winning dragon
Beanie, Cheryl, Stanley and Stania Klegr with their award-winning dragon Photo Karina Yanez

The family took part in a variety of pumpkin competitions, winning two first places.

Father Stanley  won first place in the Best Named Creation under the open category based on a design by son Stania, who came up with the idea to make a dragon.

Stanley  came up with the name, Nik-P-Mup, which is pumpkin spelt backwards.

Mum Cheryl  took second place in the same category with her design called, Pumpkinella, which was a girl in a carriage.

Youngest son, Beanie, won first place in the Best Miniature pumpkin competition in the under 12 category.

The carnival, in its third year, took place on the Rhododendron Lawn where 145 people entered all sorts of pumpkin related competitions.

Anyone was able to enter on the day in sections such as the heaviest pumpkin over 200kgs, best carved, most perfect, oddest shaped, best named creation, best miniature and baking.

Jenny Rowden, a Hamilton Gardens volunteer, came up with the idea for the Pumpkin Carnival four years ago when noticing not much was being done with the big pumpkins in the Kitchen Gardens.

In an important sideshow Labour MP, Sue Moroney, beat Hamilton City councillor, Dave Mcpherson, in a weigh-in of their respective home grown pumpkins.