Ryan Ethridge's pumpkin was weighed Saturday on the courthouse lawn in Breckenridge during the Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off, part of the Stephens County 4-H Trade Show. The pumpkin weighed 1,340 pounds, a new state record, the Breckenridge Texan reported. A crowd gathered on North Court Street to watch the weigh-in. A crane lifted the pumpkin from Ethridge's truck and moved it onto the scale.
The previous state record was a 995-pound pumpkin grown in Brownfield and set last year in Breckenridge. Ethridge's entry in 2025 weighed 359 pounds. He said he has learned a lot over the past year and that growing the pumpkin in Texas heat takes adapting what growers elsewhere do.
Ethridge said he spent about six months protecting the pumpkin at his place in Harpersville from heat, wind and storms. He said he used two kinds of netting against sun and wind. He also said storms in May and July brought wind gusts of 60 to 70 miles per hour.