Champion pumpkin weighs in at 1,666 pounds

CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio — They call her Pearl. Weighing in at 1,666 pounds, Pearl was crowned grand champion in the big pumpkin weigh-in, the contest that always opens the annual Circleville Pumpkin Show. Rusty Ortman, a 26-year-old microbiologist from Chillicothe, grew her. He and his family call her Pearl because when she was just a baby pumpkin all those months ago, she looked like an oyster.