ST. PAUL — The largest pumpkin ever weighed in Pine County did not place at the State Fair, which C. Bjornstad says is precisely why he hauled it south at fifty miles an hour in the dark.

The 894.5-pound pumpkin that won the county scale alone after M. Aakre scratched went onto the State Fair platform Friday among a field in which the ribbon conversation had already moved comfortably past a thousand pounds. Bjornstad’s fruit drew a respectable crowd because a pumpkin the size of a kitchen appliance still draws a crowd even when larger kitchen appliances are parked beside it.

It did not draw a ribbon.

Bjornstad spent more time after the weigh-in looking at other growers’ trailers, slings, stem supports and written notes than he spent looking at his own entry. By noon he had filled three notebook pages with measurements, including the width of two lifting straps, the height of a plywood cradle and the spacing of a support frame built by a grower from southern Minnesota.

“I came down to see what mine looked like next to the real ones,” he said. “Now I know. It looks like a good county pumpkin.”

That is not an insult. The pumpkin beat the county’s previous mark by more than a hundred pounds. Pine County fair-board chair Verna Tho, who saw the state weigh-in after checking on other local entries, said the result did nothing to change what happened at home.

“It is still the biggest pumpkin our scale has ever seen,” Tho said. “A State Fair ribbon is not required for the county record to remain the county record.”

M. Aakre did not attend. He did, however, receive a telephone call from Bjornstad that evening. Aakre declined to describe the conversation beyond confirming that measurements were discussed and that “one of them was useful.”

The State Fair retains giant-pumpkin entries for display through the run of the fair unless growers make other arrangements. Bjornstad returned Sunday with the empty flatbed, a folded tarp, two seed catalogs and no pumpkin.

The borrowed Vekved flatbed is due back at the dairy this week. Bjornstad has promised to wash it before returning it. Karl Vekved says washing is appreciated but unnecessary because the trailer “has hauled things with lower standards than pumpkins.”

Bjornstad’s final letter of the summer correspondence appears on the opinion page. In it he concedes Aakre was right about one thing: the vine is the thing, not the fruit.

Asked whether the trip changes next year, Bjornstad said yes.

Asked how, he said, “That would be correspondence.”