No spitting! Annual Hunt for Sunzilla returns to Rusty Parker Sept. 10
September 4, 2020 | By John Malter
Sunflowers stand tall in the Waterbury public gardens between the Winooski River and Hope Cemetery. Waterbury celebrates late summer with the annual Hunt for Sunzilla contest Thursday, Sept. 10. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti.
It will take more than a pandemic to stop the annual Hunt for Sunzilla that Waterbury gardeners of all ages anticipate from the time the ground thaws in springtime.
Judging is set for 5 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 10, at Rusty Parker Park for the 27th Annual sunflower-growing contest known as “The Hunt for Sunzilla, the Monster Sunflower.”
The early fall event is co-sponsored by Waterbury True Value Hardware, Evergreen Gardens, Sunflower Natural Foods, the Waterbury Farmers Market and the Waterbury Rotary Club.
Expect the usual judging categories for the tallest sunflower, largest diameter sunflower, and the heaviest sunflower head.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic some new rules will be in place. Attendees are asked to wear masks. People must stand at least one third the distance of the length of their sunflower, assuming that their entry is 18 feet tall. That may be a tall ask, so 6 feet between unrelated entries will work.
Some changes are in store for the contest’s athletic events. Instead of a sunflower seed-spitting contest, there will be a sunflower-seed-tossing-for-accuracy contest for kids 12 and younger.
There also will be prizes awarded for the longest and heaviest zucchini, known as “The Hunt for the Other Green Monster.”
We recommend that people keep their cars locked following this contest or you could wind up enough for a year’s supply of zucchini bread in the form of one competition zucchini.
All contestants should bring their entries to Rusty Parker Park by 5 p.m. on Thursday. Prizes include bird feeders, a birdhouse, gift certificates and more sunflower seeds.
For further information check the Waterbury Rotary website event information.
For any questions, contact John Malter at 244-7373.
Waterbury Rotary Club member John Malter has been an organizer of the annual Hunt for Sunzilla since it began 27 years ago.