Published: October 25, 2007 11:38 pm      

Local man's giant pumpkins featured on TV special

NORTHERN CAMBRIA — A local man’s penchant for producing giant pumpkins has landed him a spot on the National Geographic Channel tonight.

Larry Checkon of Northern Cambria is one of a number of people featured in “Unmasking Halloween,” an hour-long program set to air at 7 p.m.

The show will be rebroadcast at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Halloween night, spokeswoman Erin Smith said Thursday.

The program is billed as a documentary examining the various ways people celebrate what National Geographic calls “a unique holiday.”

Tonight’s broadcast isn’t Checkon’s first brush with fame.

His pumpkin-growing talents have earned him widespread notoriety, including a segment two years ago on Martha Stewart’s show “Martha.”

Checkon presented the famous businesswoman with seeds from a batch of monster pumpkins he grew in 2005.

In 1999, Checkon and his wife, Gerry – who also is a giant-pumpkin grower – appeared on the David Letterman Show in New York City.

“They say this (segment) on the National Geographic Channel is going to be a 13-minute segment with me in my patch,” Checkon said.

The filming took place about a year ago and involved a crew of National Geographic Chan-nel production personnel who spent the day in Checkon’s backyard.

“They set everything up under a shade tree, and they wanted to know all the secrets of growing giant pumpkins,” the green-thumb grower recalled.

Checkon has captured a number of top awards for pumpkins in excess of 1,000 pounds.

This year, he placed second at the Great Pumpkin Weigh-Off with a pumpkin weighing in at 1,212 pounds.

A Luzerne County woman captured first place with a 1,272.521/2 -pound pumpkin.

The world’s largest pumpkin was recorded in September in Rhode Island at 1,689 pounds.

But Checkon did capture the top award in 2005, when he beat the then-world record with a pumpkin that was listed at 1,469 pounds.