ELK GROVE, CA (MPG) - Tens of thousands of people are expected to descend on Elk Grove Park Oct. 3 and 4 for the city’s Giant Pumpkin Festival, which includes a giant pumpkin race and a giant pumpkin weigh-off.  

It’s Elk Grove’s largest festival, which began 32 years ago as a harvest celebration and weigh-off. 

Last year’s weigh-off winner – the late Brian Werner of Gridley – set an Elk Grove record with a 2,147-pound gourd. The winner this year will take home $7,000. 

“The Giant Pumpkin Festival has become a tradition that generations of families look forward to year after year,” said festival spokesperson Jenna Brinkman. “The festival also offers things people don’t see every day. Seeing pumpkins that can weigh as much as a Volkswagen Beetle being lifted onto a scale is an experience in itself, and the pumpkin regatta is always a crowd favorite.”

Festivities start at 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday and end at 5 p.m. at 9950 Elk Grove Florin Road. Admission is free. Parking is $20 per vehicle. Visitors are encouraged to ride their bikes to the festival. A free bike valet service is available.

The pumpkin race involves hollowed-out gourds that began as 500-to-800-pound pumpkins. Racers sit inside and paddle against each other across the park’s lake. The winner receives $1,500 in prize money, all of which is provided by the festival’s sponsors. 

Carnival rides, arts and crafts, food trucks and live entertainment are part of the festival, too. 

Many pumpkin weigh-off contestants come from the Napa and Sonoma regions, said Brinkman. Some come from the Sacramento region, and most are from Northern California, she said. 

But “we’ve had competitors come from Oregon and Minnesota,” Brinkman said. 

Elk Grove has yet to have a world-record-holder, she said. The top three weigh-off contestants will be available to speak with visitors on Sunday, Brinkman said. 

“I love the sport,” said Galt resident Johnny Gayton, a grower and two-time regatta champ who’s been involved in the festival for seven years.

Gayton, who has grown pumpkins for the regatta in the past, said he might buy a one for the regatta this year.  

“This is a great sport,” Gayton said.