Yes, the heaviest pumpkin at the NC State Fair was grown in West Virginia. Here’s why.

The opening this week of the NC State Fair means it’s prime time for giant pumpkins and watermelons.

The fair, which runs Oct. 13-23, held its annual official weigh-in for the giant gourds Tuesday afternoon at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh. The competition this year included 11 pumpkins and 17 watermelons, plus other produce, including tomatoes and varieties of squash, all in their respective categories.

In the end, though, only two giants could come out on top.

▪ The heaviest watermelon to be weighed at the Raleigh fair was 306 pounds. The melon was grown by Andrew Vial of Liberty, North Carolina, who also won the competition last year, when he set the fair’s site record for heaviest watermelon at 341 pounds.

▪ The heaviest pumpkin to be weighed was 1,461 pounds, and was grown by last year’s winner, Chris Rodebaugh of Lewisburg, West Virginia.

Yes, West Virginia.

Since the competition Tuesday afternoon, social media has been slightly abuzz about Rodebaugh’s residency status, wondering how someone from outside the state could win the North Carolina contest.

“Question, if it’s the NC State Fair, then why did some NOT from NC win?” one Facebook user asked the State Fair account in a comment Wednesday.

The answer: It’s because of the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth, or GPC.

The GPC establishes standards and regulations related to the weighing of fruits, to ensure “fairness of competition, recognition of achievement, fellowship, and education for all participating growers and weigh-off sites,” according to the website.

For about the last decade, the NC State Fair has been an official GPC weighing site, which means growers from outside of the state are allowed to enter their produce in the annual competitions.

The News & Observer reported last year that the fair’s GPC status “has resulted in even larger fruit being on display at the State Fair.”

If an out-of-state grower sets a record for heaviest gourd at the State Fair, however, their produce is not recognized as a state record. Such was the case last year, when Rodebaugh’s 1,965.5-pound pumpkin became the heaviest ever seen at the State Fair. That pumpkin set a site record for the fair, which still stands, but was not recognized as a state record, since it was not grown in the state.

The fair offers a separate competition division for pumpkins and watermelons grown in North Carolina, with only North Carolina residents being able to enter that contest. North Carolina growers may enter their gourds in that division and the GPC contest, but out-of-state growers are only allowed to enter the GPC division.

That’s one heavy watermelon

Also present at Tuesday’s weigh-in was Chris Kent, the current world record holder for heaviest watermelon. That record, set in 2013, stands at 350.5 pounds.

Kent is from Sevierville, Tennesee. He told The N&O that he’s been coming to the NC State Fair to enter watermelons since the fair weigh-off became a GPC-sanctioned event.

The watermelon Kent entered Tuesday weighed 287 pounds, enough for a third-place finish.

Kent told The N&O that Tuesday’s competition was “the most big watermelons I’ve ever seen.”

“This will be the biggest watermelon weigh-off in the country this year,” he said.

This year’s winning watermelon and pumpkin — along with other fruits and vegetables, great and small — will be on display throughout the fair in the Exposition Center.

You can learn more about the rules for entering contests at the NC State Fair at ncstatefair.org.