Got 11 hours?
Grab a Starbuck’s Trenta (their largest size at 31 oz.) Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino and sit back to enjoy watching the video of the world’s largest pumpkin being carved into the world’s largest jack o' lantern -- because that’s how long it took!
This video was streamed live on Friday in front of the Anoka, Minnesota, city hall while local artists transformed the massive 2,560-pound pumpkin, grown by gardener Travis Gienger, into an eagle.
According to UPI, Gienger named his pumpkin Maverick in honor of Tom Cruise's “Top Gun” character. It has broken the American record for pumpkin size when it won the World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, California, earlier this month. He shipped the gigantic gourd back home to Anoka to have it fashioned into the world’s largest-ever jack-o-lantern. That accomplishment also got Gienger into the Guinness Book of World Records for "Largest Jack O'Lantern by Circumference."
Gienger, a local horticulture teacher, also won the same contest in Northern California in 2020, for growing a massive pumpkin that weighed in at 2,554 pounds.
Friday’s live stream was organized by Anoka Halloween. The Minnesota town bills itself as the "Halloween Capital of the World," having organized its first Halloween parade in 1920.
Photo: Pumpkin king Travis Gienger; Miramar Events