Commack man's 1,059-lb. backup pumpkin wins contest

Scott Armstrong said he had "butterflies" in his stomach Sunday morning as he drove on the Long Island Expressway with a 1,059-pound pumpkin in the back of his pickup truck.

The Commack man, who turns 42 on Monday, was en route to the annual pumpkin weighing contest at Hicks Nurseries in Westbury, a competition he's won multiple times, but he said "the excitement of getting a pumpkin to scale never goes away."

Armstrong, a banker who grows gourds in his backyard, won the contest yet again, but with his smaller, backup pumpkin.

He had a bigger pumpkin that weighed 1,366 pounds and was still growing. 

"I had a personal best in my sights," Armstrong said. 

Unfortunately, that pumpkin, which was on pace to outgrow the 1,456-pound one Armstrong grew in 2013, split open three weeks ago.

Armstrong said the record-setting rainstorm Long Island experienced Aug. 13 may have contributed to the pumpkin's demise.

"It was kind of a bummer, but it’s part of the process," Armstrong said. "I've probably had as many failures as I've had successes."

Armstrong said he hopes more people will get into the competition.

For instance, his daughters, Marissa, 9, and Ava, 5, entered for the first time this year. Their pumpkin came in at 217 pounds, which was good enough to earn a ribbon in the children's division.

Armstrong added, "I'm hoping one day they beat me."