By Lois Allen

The hunt is on for the Great Pumpkin in Cedar Springs, Sand Lake, and anywhere this little local paper travels to.

Our pumpkin editor, Mr. C. Brown is on the search. People in Cedar Springs know how to grow stuff. You can’t drive through the area without seeing bright orange pumpkins littered throughout gardens and on farms. Show us, and everyone in the world, what kinda gourd you can grow!

Send in, email or bring in a photo of your biggest pumpkin gourd along with something (or someone) that can give a scale view of the orange fruit. We also invite you, both young and old, to decorate, carve or create your own pumpkin art photo! Remember, we’ll take anything!

Oh yeah, did you know pumpkins are fruit? Although it remains a member of the squash family, the pumpkin is a fruit. So stop treating them like vegetables! According to Answers.com, a fruit is anything that has seeds inside or out.

Currently, a Google search yielded news of the largest pumpkin ever recorded growing bigger still even as you read this. Two Ohio growers are looking at making Guinness-certification and into the infamous record book with an entry weighing in at a healthy 1,725 pounds. It already tops the old world record set in 2007 by Joe Jutras of Rhode  Island with a winning gourd of 1,689 pounds.

Although this isn’t a certified contest (we have no prizes or money), we think it could be fun. And isn’t that enough?