HAMILTON, OH — It was a gourd-geous night in downtown Hamilton as a new Ohio state record was smashed at the Operation Pumpkin Festival on October 10, 2025. Jared Persinger rolled in with a massive 2,505-pound pumpkin , setting a new state benchmark and coming within just around 300 pounds of the world record .

The record-breaking pumpkin toppled the previous Ohio best of 2,388.5 pounds , set by Bob and Jo Liggett of Circleville at the 2024 Circleville Pumpkin Show . Persinger didn’t even come in first place, but second! A pumpkin weighing 2,518 was also brought to the weigh-off but it was from New York.

The annual Operation Pumpkin Festival — part competition, part celebration — drew growers and pumpkin enthusiasts from across the country for the Great Pumpkin Weigh-Off

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