Joey ‘The Pirate’ L’Hereux (5) and his 3 ½ year old sister, Dee-Anna ‘The Lioness’, get a close look at the 158 pound prize winning pumpkin which was entered in the 1^st Annual Great Pumpkin Contest held at Moncion’s Your Independent Grocers in Hanmer on October 14. Marcel Moncion looks on in the background.

The pumpkin was grown by Justin Bodroghy of Val Caron this summer as part of the contest for children 13 years of age and under, organized by employees of INCO’s Stobie Complex and Garson Mine. He won a $150 voucher from Moncion’s and as well, $320 was donated by Marcel Moncion, in Justin’s name, to the Northeastern Ontario Cancer Centre.

Wayne Tonelli, one of the organizers of the event, commented, “The seeds from the pumpkin are of the 400-500 pound variety, but our poor growing conditions this summer certainly had an impact on the size. We are still quite impressed with the larger pumpkins, but are looking forward to much more enormous entries next year if we get a better season.”

Sinclair Fleck and Chuck Benedetti were the other two main organizers and judges of the contest.

2^nd place went to Dakota Robson of New Sudbury with an entry that tipped the scales at 152.9 pounds. He won a $100 voucher from Moncions.

3^rd place was awarded to Kayley and Amy Niemela of Dowling. They received a $50 voucher.

Tonelli was disappointed with the weather during the afternoon, but declared, “It didn’t seem to dampen the enthusiasm of the contestants nor did it have any effect on the children who entered a safety slogan or drawing pertaining to Halloween Safety.”

Children who wore a scary costume to Moncion’s were entered into a draw for two wonderful prizes. Brent Trayner won a free-standing portable basketball net set and Taryn Lavallee was the winner of a very popular Fuseball table game.