Kewaunee County giant pumpkins place fourth, eighth in Mishicot weigh-off

MISHICOT - Bill Roethle's first entry into a giant pumpkin weigh-off placed well, and another entry from Kewaunee County did even better.

Roethle, who grows giant pumpkins in the county, debuted a pumpkin in the Oct. 16 Mishicot Pumpkinfest that weighed 940.5 pounds, the eighth-heaviest among 21 pumpkins (not counting two exhibition entries) in the annual contest.

That was topped among entries from Kewaunee County by a 1,133.5-pound pumpkin from Nathan Petersilka of Kewaunee, good for fourth place in the contest. The winning pumpkin, entered by Joe and Kaarina Menting of Seymour, checked in at 1,794.5 pounds.

The pumpkin entered by Roethle, the owner of Hillside Apples in Casco, was not the pumpkin that was on display in front of his apple store on State 54 the past few weeks, which he estimated weighed in the neighborhood of 850 pounds. He had another one still growing in his patch a couple weeks before the weigh-in that he estimated was around 850 pounds and might continue growing to or past 900 by the date of the festival, and that's the one he brought to Mishicot.

Since the contest, Roethle has had the 940-pound fruit in front of Hillside Apples, which closes for the season Sunday.

Contact Christopher Clough at 920-741-7952, 920-562-8900 or cclough@doorcountyadvocate.com.

RELATED:  For these two Kewaunee County men, growing giant pumpkins is 'a sense of wonder'

MORE:  COVID-19 update: New positive cases fall dramatically in Kewaunee, Door counties

FOR MORE KEWAUNEE COUNTY NEWS: Check out our homepage

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Kewaunee County giant pumpkins place fourth, eighth in Mishicot weigh-off