Sept. 12: The Hunt for Sunzilla (and more) comes to Rusty Parker Park
September 5, 2024 | By John Malter 
Sunflowers growing at the Waterbury Community Gardens. File photo by Lisa Scagliotti
The 31st Annual Waterbury Rotary sunflower growing contest known as The Hunt for Sunzilla, the Monster Sunflower, will be held on Thursday, Sept. 12, at 5 p.m. at Rusty Parker Memorial Park in conjunction with the final Waterbury Farmers Market of the season.
Community members of all ages are invited to bring their amazing sunflowers – and to cheer on the contestants.
Each year, preparations for the Sunzilla contest start on Arbor Day, the first Friday in May when the Waterbury Rotarians provide trees for Brookside Primary School, Crossett Brook Middle School and Moretown Elementary School campuses. Students at each school help to plant young trees in observance of Arbor Day.
Afterward, the students receive packets of giant sunflower seeds to take home to plant. Additional seed packets are also distributed to businesses around the Waterbury area. In all, approximately 20,000 seeds are distributed for this event annually. Since the first contest, more than one-half million sunflower seeds are estimated to have been shared with the community.
Several months following the seed distribution, the Hunt for Sunzilla contest is held during the second week of September along with the Waterbury Farmers Market at Rusty Parker Park.
Volunteers from the Rotary judge sunflowers for the heaviest sunflower head, the largest diameter sunflower head, and the tallest sunflower which is crowned “Sunzilla, the Monster Sunflower.” There have been winning sunflowers over 16 feet tall, sunflower heads over 24 inches in diameter and weighing over 6 pounds.
Along with judging the sunflowers comes an almost Olympic athletic event for kids 12 and younger: a sunflower seed-spitting contest for both distance and accuracy.
But that’s not all!
Sunzilla’s sister contest is another time-honored event: The Search for the Other Green Monster – the longest and the heaviest zucchini. To date, the biggest zucchini to achieve that honor weighed over 58 pounds (grown by Ron Scholtz in 2022).
Prizes for all of these competitions include bird feeders, bird houses, sunflower seeds and gift certificates from local businesses.
Finally, to help celebrate, the Rotary Club will hold an Ice Cream Social during the contest. YUM!
In addition to the Waterbury Rotary Club, event sponsors include Evergreen Gardens, Sunflower Natural Foods, Waterbury True Value Hardware and the Waterbury Farmers Market.
Rotarian John Malter is the lead organizer of the Waterbury Rotary’s Hunt for Sunzilla and Arbor Day events. Contact him with any questions at 802-244-7373.