Humongous pumpkin ‘boat’ race features costumes captains and a world record-breaking pumpkin sailor

Give them pumpkin to talk about.

Gourds and ghouls gathered in Tualatin, Oregon, for the 21st annual West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta to watch competitors turn huge pumpkins into hollowed-out floating boats.

The event has been drawing large crowds to the Portland suburb since 2004.

To get the humongous pumpkins into the small human-made lake — some of which weighed over 1,000 lbs — organizers used forklifts to carefully lower them into the water before the racers carved out the insides using weilding saws and knives to turn it into a vessel.

The more insides removed, the lighter the pumpkin and the easier it is to race. When all the carving was done, there were enough discarded seeds and pulp to fill a dumpster.

Competitors dressed in Halloween costumes as they raced around the lake to loud cheers from the hundreds of onlookers.

Gary Kristensen, dressed as Will Ferrell’s Buddy from the Christmas classic movie “Elf,” won the first race, celebrating by raising his kayak paddle in the air from his 936-pound pumpkin boat, the Associated Press reported.

“You’ve got an exciting activity that crowds love, you’ve got the costumes, cheering people, spectacle, pumpkins sinking, it has everything,” Kristensen said.

Kristensen has competed in the regatta since 2013 and partakes in pumpkin boating more than just at the annual event.

“It’s kind of an addiction at this point,” he said.

Back in May, he got the Guinness World Record for the longest journey by pumpkin boat after paddling just over 58 miles, breaking his own record he set the previous year.

The regatta has also become a passion project for Brad Bahns. This year, at his fourth regatta participating in, he dressed up as a character from the hit show “Squid Game.”

Bahns grew is 1,376 pumpkin on his own, which took him six months total, and he said the fun of doing it on his own is “getting to culminate the season by putting it in the lake and paddling with our friends.”

Kristensen said there’s a simple formula to grow a massive pumpkin: “Good seeds, good soil, good luck, hard work.”

The regatta — supported by the Pacific Giant Vegetable Growers association, which cultivates the massive pumpkins throughout the year — has become a seasonal tradition in Oregon that makes the start of fall activities.