Kudos to Jesse Sapolu, the ex-49ers lineman who will preside as Grand Marshal for Saturday’s Great Pumpkin Parade in Half Moon Bay.

Despite his four Super Bowl rings, however, Sapolu will not be the biggest star at this gourd-centric pageant. That distinction belongs to a pale orange, slightly slumped behemoth named Beetle Handle, winner of this year’s Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off.

That victory was good for a $21,000 check, and came as sweet relief for Brandon Dawson, the squash-whispering Santa Rosa dad who nurtured his prize pumpkin from pollination to its peak weight of 2,346 pounds.

Dawson, an Elsie Allen graduate who is now a manufacturing engineer at Rivian Automotive, was a bundle of nerves right up until a digital scale flashed the winning weight on Monday. A year ago at the competition, he’d missed out on first place by a mere six pounds.

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There was less drama this time around, as Beetle Handle, named by his four-year-old daughter Ayla – it “can mean anything you want in life,” she explained – bested the runner-up by a comfortable 329 pounds.

Making the moment more special, said Dawson, was sharing the stage with his mother, Pattie Dawson, a longtime master gardener who until recently had not shared his passion for olericulture – the specialized field of growing huge vegetables for competition.

But after tagging along with her son to some weigh-offs, Pattie’s reservations faded. “The people were so friendly and enthusiastic,” she said. “I got drawn in!”

While 1,000 pounds lighter than Beetle Handle, her entrant in the Half Moon Bay contest was good for seventh place and $1,000. “It was the biggest pumpkin she’s ever grown,” said Brandon, who noted that his avocation was fast becoming “a family affair.”

Putting down roots

Sitting on Beetle Handle in the aftermath of victory, alongside her two-year-old brother, was Ayla Dawson, who spent the summer in the pumpkin patch behind their Rincon Valley home, closely monitoring the pumpkin’s progress.

Now at an age “where she’s really paying attention” to the process of growing the vast gourds, noted her father, Ayla is a strong candidate to carry on the family’s burgeoning great pumpkin dynasty.

RELATED: How to grow a giant pumpkin, with help from science

Whether it’s Jack and his beanstalk, James and the Giant Peach or Dawson and one of his half-ton fruits – yes, because it develops from the flower of the plant and contains seeds, a pumpkin is, botanically speaking, a fruit – gigantic plants hold an enduring fascination for many.

Dawson’s obsession dates back to the day he was wandering through the National Heirloom Exposition at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, five or so years ago, when he saw his first giant pumpkin in person.

A squash tower at the 2015 National Heirloom Exposition at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. (JOHN BURGESS / The Press Democrat) JOHN BURGESS / The Press Democrat

“It’s very impactful, when you’re standing in front of them,” Dawson said. “They’re just so unreal. It’s like, how could this happen? How did that grow so big?”

He decided to find out.

Long line of gardeners

Growing up on a five-acre spread in southwest Santa Rosa, Dawson spent countless hours in his mother’s gardens, sometimes helping her – more often, according to Pattie, helping himself to veggies and orchard fruits, once they were edible.

Her green thumb was passed down from her father, the grocer John Aime, who emigrated from Italy at the age of 16 and eventually opened, with his wife Congeta, the U-Save Market on Petaluma Hill Road, at the site of what is now a Lola’s Market.

“Mom picked it up from him,” said Brandon of his mother’s love for gardening, “and I picked it up from my mom. It’s kind of our lifelong hobby together.”

His first foray into competitive gardening yielded a pumpkin which, while very large by objective standards – a few hundred pounds – was but a 98-pound weakling compared to the buff, big league gourds on display at any self-respecting weigh-off.

But he’d “caught the bug,” as Dawson put it, and – like the downward-delving roots from the leaf node of a thriving pumpkin vine – did a deep dive on how to grow a bigger gourd.

Aiding him in this quest were fellow members of the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth, which serves as an international governing body for giant fruit and vegetable competitions – pumpkins in particular.

Such is the collegial, non-cutthroat ethos of the GPC that its members are continually sharing tips and advice, said Brandon.

“The guy I’m competing with there is the first guy I call when I’m having a problem and need advice. Believe it or not.”

How to grow a giant

If you have a spare 20 minutes, Dawson can enlighten you on considerations that go into selecting the seed, which is planted in early March.

His efforts in subsequent weeks are poured into “babying” the plant, “trying to get it as big as you can.”

This plant-managing phase is devoted to growing the vine structure, with many secondary vines branching off the long main vine.

Each of those vines  has “node” where a root can develop, he explains.

“The more roots you get, the more opportunity for picking up nutrients and water, when the pumpkin shows up.”

After hand-pollinating a female flower, usually with pollen from the male flower of a different, noble line of giant gourds, the great-pumpkin-to-be starts growing. And growing.

A month or so into that phase, “it starts to really pick up steam,” he said.

During peak growth, these monster gourds can gain 30 to 50 pounds per day.

“You actually have to move the pumpkin every so often,” said Dawson, “because it can grow into the vine, and break itself right off.”

To grow such outlandishly large produce, does Dawson rely heavily on chemicals?

The opposite is true. One key to his success, he believes, is soil health. “You’re really farming the soil more than you’re farming the plant.”

If you have another 20 minutes, get him going on the importance of cover crops and soil aggregates and a robust presence of fungi and bacterial activity in that soil.

Dawson doesn’t completely eschew chemicals. Every 10 days or so during the growing cycle, he’ll apply “a small amount of fertilizer,” usually based on a soil test or tissue sample he’s taken from the plant.

Such expertise is all but mandatory to reach the horticultural heights Dawson has now attained.

Victory, at last

Also, it doesn’t hurt to be a little lucky.

Defending champion Travis Gienger of Anoka, Minnesota, whose 2023 pumpkin, Michael Jordan, weighed 2,749 pounds, a world record at the time – was on track to bring another orange beast to Half Moon Bay this October.

But the gourd he’d dubbed Happy, in honor of the release of “Happy Gilmore 2,” suffered a pinhole in its blossom end, stalling its growth at a Lilliputian 1,300 pounds.

To the victor go the spoils.

Beetle Handle will be – very gingerly – placed on a float, which will then also bear Dawson and his family down Main Street in Half Moon Bay for Saturday’s parade, during which, he’s noticed, everyone seems to be having fun.

Last Sunday, after wrestling her pretty great pumpkin onto the bed of their pickup, Pattie and her husband headed for Half Moon Bay. After crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, while inching along in stop-and-go traffic on 19th Avenue in San Francisco, she recalled, “everybody was just waving at us, rolling their windows down, asking us questions. It was just so friendly, it felt really good.

“There’s just something about a giant pumpkin.”

You can reach Staff Writer Austin Murphy at 707-521-5214 or [email protected]. On X @ausmurph88.