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90 teams attented our yearly Pumpkin regatta. Domain Ark Van Noë full of “pumpkin” atmosphere: pumpkin regatta, pumpkin figures, pumpkin games, pumpkin curling, pumpkin carving, pumpkin soup and pumpkin beer.
We’re already looking forward to our 2024 edition.
In the meantime, enjoy the photos of 2023.
Time for the weigh-off 2023 in Kasterlee. First it looked like we were not going to reach a weight higher than 800kg.
Luckily Herman Boonen managed to grow a pumpkin heavier than 1 tonne: 1002kg to be precise. He was followed by Peter Jolie with 862kg and Cel Dierckx having a pumpkin of 727kg.
It didn’t stop at Belgian titles though, as Luc Vanheuckelom broke the European record for Squashes! He now sets the record at 842.5kg. Jef Leysen and Jens Segaert took the 2nd (542,5kg) and 3rd place (465,5kg).
Also check our pictures taken, as Marrows, Long Gourds and Field Pumpkins were also present.
The end of August is always the time for our 2nd patch tour. The result: our smallest pumpkin weighs +/- 39kg, the largest is over 800kg. Fortunately, our big ones still have a few weeks to grow. Really looking forward to the real results during the Belgian Pumpkin Road Championships on Saturday 7 October 2023 in Kasterlee.
We closed the day with a delicious BBQ. Enjoy our photos.
On January 29th 2023, we organized our annual New Year’s reception. After our president, Paul Boonen, went through the planning for 2023, the “party committee” took over. A modified version of the game Higher-Lower was enjoyed by everyone. And of course there was time to talk, about how we are going to grow the biggest pumpkins this year for example…. Look further for pictures.
Pumpkin Curling, Pumpkin Games, Pumpkin Carving, Pumpkin Beer, Pumpkin Soup, Pumpkin Scenes, Pumpkin Music and then we also had pumpkin regatta. The Pumpkin Regatta has become an experience day for young and old. And this was also the case on 23 October 2022. On the “Ark Van Noë” we managed to attract a lot of curious people.
In any case, we look back on a successful edition. And the press apparently could not get enough of it either: from a few local stations to a Flemish broadcaster to the press in Spain.
On to 2023.
Pictures of the individual teams (who attended the Pumpkin race) can be found over here.
Some other pictures can be found below.
There we were again with about 60 giant pumpkins at the Pumpkin Market in our village Kasterlee.
Luc Vanheuckelom and Herman Boonen managed to take the top 4 of the ranking:
So of course something we celebrated later on that evening. Look further for some pictures.
1046kg: the weight of the Giant Pumpkin of Luc Vanheuckelom. He ended first at the GPC Belgian Pumpkin Weigh-off in Kasterlee, followed by Herman Boonen with 1032,5kg and Jens Segaert: 911,5kg.
Also some squashes attended: Jef Leysen won with a squash of 497,5kg, Johan Aernouts ended 2nd with 371kg and the 3rd place was taken by Luc Vanheuckelom with 339,5kg.
See all results at https://www.pompoenengenootschap.be/gpc-uitslag/.
Click “see more” to see more pictures.
August is coming to an end and so it was time for our 2nd patch tour. Today we visited some growers, to see how heavy we estimate our current pumpkins. And there’s some good news: “it all looks promising”.
Of course, we ended the day with a delicious BBQ. Look here for more photos.
A lot of big pumpkins are already growing in Kasterlee. Time to see how they’re doing during our first patch tour.
This time 2 guests joined: Stuart Paton and his wife Katty. This top grower from England was curious about how big our pumpkins would be (and if we have some tricks to grow them)
Are you also curious? Check out the pictures below.
20 years, that’s the age of the Pompoenengenootschap Kasterlee. And of course this could not just pass by.
During Fiesta Del Pompoenos (a family day) we visited the Hooibeekhoeve and spend some time together, drinking a beer and enjoying delicious French fries.
See below for some photos. On to the next 20 years, and hopefully 20 world records!