The Great Pumpkin has arrived in Brooklyn.
Each Halloween, a Park Slope homeowner transforms the stoop of his brownstone into one of the neighborhood’s most popular attractions. This year, Charlie Pigott’s star display is a giant pumpkin weighing nearly 1,000 pounds.
Pigott recently transported the enormous gourd from Pennsylvania and used a forklift to position it outside his front door. Since then, it has attracted everyone from school groups to curious visitors who make a special trip to rub the pumpkin for good luck.
“I wake every morning to the sound of laughing children outside talking about it. And a mom or a dad saying, ‘Get off the stoop!’ By the time I come out, I’m like, ‘You can go on a stoop! You can climb on the pumpkin! Take a picture and enjoy!’” said Pigott, 60.
The local real estate broker said this year’s pumpkin weighs about 100 pounds less than last year’s. He suspects the summer’s heavy rainfall may have contributed to the smaller crop.
To compensate, Pigott filled his 8th Avenue property with several additional pumpkins, ranging from 2 to 120 pounds, along with bales of hay.
The family tradition started when Pigott and his daughter, Elizabeth, found a 100-pound pumpkin on the side of a road in Connecticut. They hauled it home and placed it on their stoop.
The neighborhood’s reaction was immediate. Children and curious onlookers began crowding the stoop to see the unusual Brooklyn spectacle.
From there, the display grew larger and more ambitious each year.
With help from his children, Pigott began searching not only for bigger pumpkins, but also for specimens with a rich orange color and a sturdy stem—features that help keep them from rotting too quickly.
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The pumpkins eventually became too heavy for the local teenagers who once helped lift them from Pigott’s car. These days, he uses a forklift to move the largest ones.
The Park Slope Pumpkin has made Pigott a neighborhood celebrity. About three years ago, farms across the Northeast learned about his annual search and began calling him with tips about the best pumpkins available.
Pigott declined to reveal how much the yearly hunt costs, though he suggested it is far less expensive than many people might expect. As an example, he said one 100-pound pumpkin cost $50.
For Pigott, the tradition is priceless. Its reward, he said, is the “tremendous joy” it brings to children and adults.
Some families return each year to take pictures in front of the pumpkins, using the tradition to document their children’s growth. Teachers from nearby schools also organize small field trips, turning the giant display into a lesson about crops, Pigott said.
Many passersby stop to rub the giant orange pumpkin for good luck.
Pigott hopes to expand the display in the years ahead. Eventually, he would like to grow pumpkins large enough to hollow out and turn into edible boats for local children to race on Prospect Lake.
“The pumpkin is a great thing for the neighborhood. It brings everybody together, and this is an act of love and gratitude to the community.”
Pumpkin fans have until Thanksgiving to visit the display. After that, Pigott plans to take an ax to the giant gourd and compost it.
And for anyone planning to make an “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Pigott” joke, the Brooklynite says he has already heard it dozens of times.
