SANFORD — In the late cartoonist Charles Schulz’s classic Halloween special, the character Linus spends the night hidden in a pumpkin patch, waiting for the Great Pumpkin to swoop down out of the sky and bestow gifts upon the faithful.

It is fortunate that the patch in which Linus hid was not maintained by one of the multitude of pumpkin growers who arrived at Sanford’s Harvest Daze festival on Friday night. For if he had hidden amongst the massive gourds that lined the roads criss-crossing Gowen Park that evening, he may never have been seen or heard from again.

This year marked the first in which the Harvest Daze community celebration played host to a pumpkin weigh-off, and the result was a confluence of gigantic growths brought in from across the state and New England.

Lee Burnett, a participant advisor for the Sanford Downtown Legacy Group, which helped plan this year’s event, said that the idea behind the pumpkin weigh-off was to increase the number of visitors to the annual festival.

“One of the goals this year was to maximize our revenue,” said Burnett. “We’re trying to expand our reach beyond the town.”

The weigh-off was sponsored in part by the Maine Pumpkin Growers Association, whose members have participated in other weigh-off events in previous years. This marked their first time taking part in an such an event in Sanford.

“We had heard that the Maine Pumpkin Growers Association had some unhappy experiences at the Cumberland Fair and were looking for a new site,” said Burnett. “That’s why we’re trying to feature it, because the other (events) have been going on all along.”

While a prize was awarded to the grower with the largest pumpkin, the main idea behind the gathering was to showcase the accomplishments of farmers whose pride in their work was only overshadowed by the bulging lumps of orange-and-green mass that were carted to Gowen Park on forklifts and flatbed trucks.

Al Berard, president of the Pumpkin Growers Association, expected a record year in terms of the sheer sizes of the overgrown fruits.

“There’s going to be a lot of that this summer because we’ve had so much sun,” said Berard.

Matt Holmes of Limington was present Friday evening with his own overgrown pumpkin, and said that the key to maximizing the size of the plant is to use natural ingredients.

“I started (growing) it in May, so it’s been about four months,” said Holmes. “Mostly you try to grow organic if you can. You’ve just got to have a lot of organic material.”

Holmes backed up Berard’s assertion that the summer weather ”“ hot and largely dry ”“ was partly to thank for this year’s crop of giants.

“The weather’s been really good, ’cause you can regulate the water,” he said. “Some summers you get too much water.”

Holmes’ father, Minot, was in attendance at the event and was happy to take a seat next to the rows of plump pumpkins and watch festival-goers “ooh” and “ahh” as they walked along the outskirts of Number One Pond.

Taking in the atmosphere, Minot reflected that it took a lot of work to get the pumpkin to this point ”“ especially considering the event’s strict rules, which disqualified any gourd that had a broken stem or eroded shell.

“It takes a lot of work to protect it from animals and disease,” said Minot Holmes.

While the pumpkins were the main attraction on Friday night, there were other additions to the festival that drew crowds. Feature events included a micro-brew tasting contest organized by Back Street Grill; an antique car and tractor contest; pumpkin-throwing trebuchets; a scarecrow decorating contest; and musical performances from Mark Kelley, The Rips and World’s Finest.

Burnett hopes the festival continues to grow in future years.

“You need music, kids’ activities, food ”¦ you need to have a lot of things to keep people excited,” he said.

— Staff Writer Jeff Lagasse can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 319, or at jlagasse@journaltribune.com.