Rotary marks 30 years of Sunzilla Sept. 14

September 7, 2023  |  By John Malter 

Update: This post was updated to note that Sept. 14 will just be the Rotary event. The Waterbury Farmers Market has ended for the season.

During the 2022 Sunzilla contest, Waterbury Rotarians (including John Malter at left) measure and weigh entries. A couple of the contestants get in some gymnastics.  Photo by Gordon Miller.

The 30th Annual Waterbury Rotary sunflower growing contest known as The Hunt for Sunzilla, the Monster Sunflower is set for Thursday, Sept. 14, at Rusty Parker Memorial Park. The search for the “Other Green Monster” continues as well.

The contest judging will start at 5 p.m.

Rotarians kick off the contest each spring on Arbor Day, the first Friday in May when the Rotary Club provides trees for students at Brookside Primary School, Crossett Brook Middle School and Moretown Elementary School. Students help plant the seedlings as part of the celebration that includes information about Arbor Day.

Following the celebration, students receive packets of giant sunflower seeds to take home to plant. Additional packets of seeds are distributed to businesses around the Waterbury area. In all, approximately 20,000 seeds are distributed for this event annually. Since the first contest, over half a million sunflower seeds have been shared with the community. 

Then in September at Rusty Parker Park, the Hunt for Sunzilla contest takes place.

Ron Scholtz grew the winning Other Green Monster in 2022. Photo by Lisa  Scagliotti

Sunflowers are judged for the heaviest sunflower head, 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 over 6 pounds in weight. 

Prizes include bird feeders, bird houses, more sunflower seeds and gift certificates to local businesses. Beside the Waterbury Rotary Club, sponsors who provide prizes include Evergreen Gardens, Sunflower Natural Foods, Waterbury True Value Hardware and the Waterbury Farmers Market. 

In conjunction with Sunzilla, the Rotary also holds the Search for the Other Green Monster — the season’s longest and heaviest zucchini. The biggest zucchini that has been measured weighed about 54 pounds.

Finally, the annual event includes an athletic event for kids 12 and younger: a sunflower seed-spitting contest for both distance and accuracy. 

The community is invited to Waterbury Rotary’s Sunzilla contest on Thursday, Sept. 14. Judging begins at 5 p.m. Rotarian John Malter is a lead Sunzilla organizer as well as the club’s Arbor Day program leader and chief sunflower-seed distributor.