Belmont County prisoners to enter the Barnesville Pumpkin Festival Weigh-Off
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- Prisoners at Belmont Correctional Institute planted pumpkins back in May, and now they plan to enter the Barnesville Pumpkin Festival Weigh-Off for the first time on Wednesday.
Weigh-off organizer Dean Wehr went to Belmont Correctional Institute to look at the planned pumpkin entry on Monday morning and said that it should place in the top 10.
"We're excited to be part of it. It's a big part of the valley. You know, this is our home," Warden David Gray said of the inmates and staff.
Gray said the institute grew pumpkins last year to compete with other Ohio correctional institutes.
That competition will take place in Mansfield, Ohio, in a few weeks and is organized through the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
"We didn't even intend to get involved in the Barnesville Pumpkin Festival. So this is actually an internal agency-wide challenge. We were challenged last year by Mansfield Correctional Institution, and the director supported the challenge, and we won it with a little over 500-pound pumpkin. We learned a lot from growing that pumpkin," Gray said.
Belmont Correctional Institute won the competition last year with a 596-pound pumpkin named "Pipsqueak."
The pumpkin patch inside the institute's grounds is named the Brooks Bosworth Pumpkin Patch. Bosworth was a correction officer who helped mentor the pumpkin growers a couple of years ago.
"Brooks won multiple pumpkin contests several years ago. Brooks passed away two years ago suddenly. He was an officer here, and that's why we named the pumpkin patch after him," Gray said. "We used to call him 'Pumpkin Man.'"
Incarcerated people designed and created a sign in Bosworth's memory to mark the pumpkin patch.
Gray said the patch started off this year with eight pumpkins, but the majority of them rotted or did not grow well. The patch is now down to three pumpkins.
BCI staff member John Jaskowiak has been overseeing the project and has been guiding the prisoners on how to care for the pumpkins. He said that he set a goal to grow one pumpkin of over 1,000 pounds.
"It really took off, and I believe the largest pumpkin is over 1,000 pounds. We have another one that's over 500 and a third that I'm guessing is around 800 pounds," he said.
"It's been something that's been super exciting for our staff and the incarcerated population. We were just a little surprised this year that we were able to grow this pumpkin. We didn't think we would get this far in year two," Gray said.
"The incarcerated adults and staff have been ecstatic. Every day I have staff members asking me what it weighs and how big it is. I think it gives our people a sense of hope, and it puts a smile on so many faces," Gray said.
Wehr said that this is the first time a correctional institute has entered into the Barnesville Pumpkin Festival.
"All of the entries are from individuals. This is the first group effort," he said.
Wehr said that the Barnesville Pumpkin Festival Committee would like to keep the prison's pumpkin after the festival.
"We have a squash carver coming in. If you don't receive the top prize, if you're not in the top three, we have a guy that comes in and carves the seed out of that pumpkin that someone donates. Also, we had another grower donate a pumpkin that we cut open during the show to hand out seeds. So we would be interested in using that pumpkin if you didn't win for anything," Wehr said.
Gray said he would have to make a phone call before deciding what to do with the pumpkin after it is weighed. Gray plans to enter a pumpkin into the state competition as well, and he may want to enter the same pumpkin.
Wehr also commended the staff and inmates for growing such a large gourd.
The Barnesville Pumpkin Festival Weigh-Off will take place from 6-9 p.m. Wednesday in downtown Barnesville at the corner of Main and Chestnut streets. The contest is open to everyone with no entry fees. The person with the heaviest entry that captures the title of "King Pumpkin" will receive $2 per pound after all pumpkins are weighed.
JB Digital Media is partnering with Belmont County Tourism to livestream the weigh-off. The stream will be viewable on the Belmont County Tourism Facebook page beginning at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Gray said he hopes that staff and inmates can watch the livestream from the institute.
"We don't have access to Facebook in here, but we'll try to make it work.," he said.
Gray said that staff and prisoners are already making plans for next year's pumpkin patch.
"They already know where they could have done things a little differently to approach the situation. We've doubled our weight from last year. We're only two years into this thing. So the guys here have learned quite a bit from this and they want to continue," Gray said.