What started with a jukebox showing turned into a club that has been going...and growing for the last 10 years.

2025 marked the 10 year anniversary of the Fennimore Area Giant Pumpkin Growers, a non-profit, fund raising club for local organizations that culminates with a pumpkin weigh off between club members, and two $500 donations.

Lloyd Tarrell said the club’s origin started with showing a friend, Pete Finnegan, a Wurlitzer jukebox he owned.

While at his home, Finnegan noticed that Tarrell was growing pumpkins in his garden, and a couple at around 200 pounds. Finnegan suggested that Tarrell should get a club together and turn it into a fund raiser.

Tarrell, who owned the Hilltop Bar and Restaurant at the time, brought up the idea to friends and customers, and he got enough “sounds like fun” responses to go forth with a club.

The Fennimore Area Giant Pumpkin Growers’ first official meeting was held on Nov. 11, 2015, with 20 members. Tarrell stated they set up having  president, vice-president, treasurer, but now they’ve moved to being a “loosely based organization.”

Dues were set at $25, which they still are to this day, with half the money collected going to a local organization, and the other half going to the winner of the “end of the season” pumpkin weigh off, which was decided to coordinate with Fennimore’s annual Heritage Day.

The club was fortunate enough in its first year to have John Barlow, who was at the time president of the Wisconsin Giant Pumpkin Growers, to speak to them and give them “all the ins and outs of growing giant pumpkins,” according to Tarrell.

“You have to start with growing the seeds inside,” Tarrell explained. “Then transplanted outside where they have to get a whole lot of different nutrients.”

“We have a seed distribution during our spring meeting,” Tarrell went on to say. “With us belonging to the state club, we’re able to get pumpkin seeds from all over the world that have good pumpkin genetics.”

The club’s first weigh off was held on Heritage Day in 2016, with Bill Wood being the first award winner with a 389 pound pumpkin. The first annual donation was made to the Dwight T. Parker Public Library, with Wood forgoing his cash reward and instead donating it to the library as well, which has stayed that way bringing the donation amount to $500.

Pumpkin weights have also increased over the years, with pumpkins as recent as 2023 exceeding 1,000 pounds.

In 2017, the $500 donation was given to Aiming For Acceptance, a group that helps to establish therapies, services, and support to the sensory processing disorder and autism communities in rural areas. 

Three club members after 2017’s weigh off, Kelly Udelhofen, and Bob and Kim Govier, had their giant pumpkins on display in Stitzer and ended up selling them, which gave the club the idea to auction off the pumpkins during the annual weigh off, thus being able to make two $500 donations each year which started in 2018 with the Fennimore Dog Park and the Fennimore Community Scholarship Foundation.

This year’s two $500 donation recipients were the Fennimore EMS and the Fennimore Fire Department, while this year’s winner of the weigh-in was Steve Wagner with a 1,087 pound pumpkin.

The Fennimore Area Giant Pumpkin Growers are always welcoming new members, and members are not required to grow pumpkins for the annual contest.

If anyone is interested, reach out to any Giant Pumpkin Grower member or contact Lloyd Tarrell at (608) 988-6221 or lloydtarrell98@yahoo.com.