Brownfield man’s 995-pound pumpkin sets Texas weight record

The above video shows the top local headlines for the morning of October 30, 2025.

BROWNFIELD, Texas— Brownfield resident Gabriel Gonzales has a natural talent for farming and gardening. He aimed to create pumpkins ideal for the fall season. He produced over 1,500 pumpkins in various colors, shapes and sizes, but one in particular was especially notable.

Gonzales grew a pumpkin that weighed an astonishing 995 pounds. He explained to EverythingLubbock.com that, despite living on nutrient-rich land and having access to well water, he didn’t do anything special; yet, he managed to grow a pumpkin that weighed nearly a ton.

“I got these seeds in the ground on June 21st, and I cut it last Thursday, so that’d be October, I think it’s the 23rd maybe,” he said.

Gonzales told EverythingLubbock.com that he brought the pumpkin to a weigh-off hosted by the Indiana Pumpkin Growers Association in Breckenridge, where it was named the heaviest pumpkin in Texas, surpassing the previous record by 284 pounds.

He said, “My daughter and I, our family, have been working on this for months and we’re actually able to see the numbers go up. You know, you’re seeing 100 2 3 4 5 until it gets up to the actual weight, like that’s just really fun and exciting.”

Gonzales said it’s so huge that his Amazon delivery driver can see it from the road by his house. His neighbors were both surprised and curious about the pumpkin, all trying to determine just how large it really is.

“Everybody’s been kind of excited, especially the more that they find out about how much it weighs, the more I find out that actually, people around me were pretty excited about it and trying to figure out what the weight was.”

Now that the weigh-in is complete, there’s only one step left: creating new memories with his three-year-old daughters, memories he hopes they will never forget.

“I’m probably going to carve it on Friday for Halloween with my daughter. She’s 3 years old, so I think that’d be kind of fun,” he said.

Gonzales’ pumpkin journey is not over yet. He tells EverythingLubbock.com that he plans to do the same thing again, aiming to make it bigger than ever next year.