ENON VALLEY, Pa. — In the valley of giants, pumpkins heavier than grand pianos rest atop cushioned pallets waiting to be weighed, while the mad scientist who grew them from tiny seeds sized them up from afar. “No, not those ones,” farmer Dave Stelts says on this late September afternoon. “Those are just the babies.”

The largest pumpkin ever entered at the fair was a 2022 monster weighing almost 2,500 pounds. Will they squash the record this year?

Pumpkin growers will bring the heftiest of their harvest to the Topsfield Fair on Friday, which opens its 10-day run Around 20 entries are expected for the competition, a rite-of-fall for pumpkin growers across the region.

The Topsfield Fair celebrates local farm animals, agriculture, food, rides, vendors and performances. Highlights include the hot dog eating contest, giant pumpkin weigh-off and the Dock Dogs competition,