Sunzilla crowned alongside record ‘Green Monster’
Sept. 10, 2022 | By Gwenna Peters
Rusty Parker Memorial Park was all sunflowers and smiles for the 29th annual Hunt for Sunzilla contest hosted by the Waterbury Rotary Club this week.
On Thursday afternoon, the park was full with the contestants who brought their entries for the sunflower-growing contest (and its companion contest for the Other Green Monster zucchini competition) as well as the final Waterbury Farmers Market and dozens lined up for COVID-19 vaccinations from the Waterbury Ambulance Service.
Sunzilla contest organizer and Rotarian John Malter described the history of the contest.
“I wanted to make people smile. I wanted them to smile over something they grew,” he said.
Malter said he felt everyone could grow sunflowers. The addition of the “green monster” to the event came later. Malter said the name is a salute to Fenway Park’s iconic left field wall.
There were smiles all around as contestants watched their flowers get weighed and measured. Everyone in the contest area had a smile for the man who walked up hoisting an enormous zucchini that later weighed in at 58 lbs.
Eight-year-old Sunny who brought her giant sunflower described difficulty pulling it up and getting it to the park for the competition. She was hoping her special sunflower could win. “It has seven heads on the top!” she proudly stated.
Winners with their entries. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
The popular sunflower-seed-spitting contest has been shelved since the COVID-19 pandemic. Again this year it was replaced by a sunflower seed-toss instead. Malter recalled past TV news coverage that debated whether seed-spitting was truly a “sporting event” or not. Unlike past years when rainy and windy weather conditions reportedly blew seeds backward into negative measurements, Thursday evening was sunny with a light breeze, making the sunflower seed toss a pleasant event.
Once the measuring and weighing was complete, the winners in multiple categories were announced with prizes awarded.
Sunzilla contest organizer John Malter with Henry Managan whose entry won 4th place in the tallest sunflower category. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Contest results
Sunzilla winners
Tallest Sunflower went to Ron Scholtz whose bloom measured 16 feet. Second place was Annika Hackett; third place, Tim Simard.
Largest Diameter sunflower went to Tim Simard whose flower measured 19.5 inches across; Annika Hackett’s came in second; third place went to Will Lewis.
Rosie Managan had the Heaviest Sunflower at 4 lbs. 14 oz. Second place was Will Lewis; third to Annika Hackett.
Ron Scholtz grew both Sunzilla and the Other Green Monster. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Green Monster winner
Largest Zucchini lived up to its name with Ron Scholtz’ green monster weighing in at 58 lbs. 4 oz. This was the largest zucchini ever in the category’s 17-year history, Malter noted. It won for both the heaviest and longest. Scholtz said the monster squash and its “brother” were headed to the Tunbridge World’s Fair next weekend.
The Rotary judges crowned Brody Hackett as the most accurate sunflower seed-tosser from among 19 contestants with his toss landing closest at just 6 inches from the center of the target.
Prizes were provided by Evergreen Gardens, Sunflower Natural Foods store, Waterbury True Value Hardware, the Waterbury Farmers Market and Waterbury Rotary Club.
“This year we also recognized the importance of sunflowers as the national symbol of Ukraine which celebrated its 31st year of independence,” Malter said, adding that many more sunflowers were grown in the Waterbury area this year in support of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in its ongoing war with Russia.
Gwenna Peters is president of the Waterbury Rotary Club and a contributor to Waterbury Roundabout