Records were set and others broken in Saturday's great pumpkin weigh-off at the 11th Annual Auburn Community Festival. Recreation Park was awash in giant pumpkins, fairies, costume-clad kids and spooky scarecrow creations. One of the biggest draws, literally, at the annual festival is the giant pumpkin weigh-off. A new record was set by Eric Carlson, of Portola Valley, whose gigantic gourd shattered the previous record of 1,001 pounds by 1.5 pounds. Carlson took home the first-place prize of $1,500 for his 1,002.5-pound pumpkin. "I haven't grown pumpkins for about three years," he said. "My wife said I could grow (again) if I took ballroom dancing." He used seeds from a 998-pound pumpkin he purchased from a grower. His pumpkin grew for about 96 days before he plucked it from the vine. Meadow Vista resident Keith Goodrich grew the heftiest local gourd. His pumpkin tipped the scales at 879.5 pounds. He cashed in with $800 in prize money for second place and also won the Ashley Haupt Harris award of $500 for having the heaviest Placer County0grown pumpkin. This year Amber Fry took home top honors in the youth category with her 374.5-pounder. Christina Goodrich, 12, of Meadow Vista, had the heftiest gourd in the youth category, weighing in at 510 pounds, but since her father scored high in the open category she stepped aside. Contest rules allow only one family member to win per year. The crowd munched on cotton candy and kettle corn under partly cloudy skies as they rocked out to the sound of The Krates, a young band from Auburn, and Black & White Ball favorite Innersoul in the afternoon. There was prize money flying throughout the festival. The scarecrow contest netted veteran winner Kurt Barton $1,000 for his first-place entrant Sugar Punkin Fairies. "Several years ago I thought about creating something based loosely on the Sugar Plump Fairies," Barton said. "These are not intended to look like anyone. I just let my imagination go." The Sugar Plump Fairies are a well-known group of women seen at many local events, dressed to the nines in full-on fairy costumes. Barton may have taken first place, again, but Placer High senior Dustin Rhodes wowed the crowd, taking the People's Choice Award for his headless horseman. He took home a total of $1,800 in prize money, $800 for second in the open class and $1,000 for People's Choice. Rhodes welded together at least 100 horseshoes and various pieces of metal to form the iron equine to which he mounted a well-dressed headless scarecrow figure. "This is the first thing I've actually welded," Rhodes said. "It took me about 15 hours to complete the entire thing." Rhodes took third last year, second this year in the open class, and hopes to continue his rise to the top next year. Rachel Chaddock and Peggy Seitzinger took over the duty of overseeing the recipe contest this year and was pleased that entrants were up to 21 from the previous year's three. Judging the recipe contest this year was a blast for the judges, all member of law enforcement. Judges Kelly Baraga, of the California Highway Patrol, Roberta Sauer of the Placer County Sheriff's Department and Carlos Casaner of the Auburn Police Department had their work cut out for them as they judged dessert noodles, apple pip and cabbage rolls, to name a few. "You must like to eat and know a little about cooking to judge," Baraga said. "I'm quite the gourmet cook. You have to know the difficulty level of each recipe. There's some excellent food here." Susie Iventosch of Weimar took first in the Savory category for her Chicken Apple Cheddar Crepes with first place in the baked category going to Brenda Roper of Auburn for the Apple Cranberry pie. Monica Barth scored No. 1 in the junior category for her Apple Upside-Down cake. The overall favorite was Judy Barth's Elizabethan Harvest Pie with a decorative leaf-design crust. Dozens of local children in elaborate costumes participated in a fun-filled parade led by the Auburn Sugar Plump Fairies and several took home prize money in a costume contest. It was clear to several out-of-town visitors that the festival sums up what Auburn is about. "I love the people here," pumpkin winner Eric Carlson said. "I had a good talk with Keith Goodrich and this would be a great place to retire." Others agreed. "There is such a sense of community here," said Martha Levitz, visiting from Sacramento. "More towns need to have events like this." The Journal's Penne Usher can be reached at penneu@goldcountrymedia.com or post a comment on auburnjournal.com.