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‘Shipping Wars’ in Canfield for giant pumpkins
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
CANFIELD
A segment of tonight’s episode of “Shipping Wars,” the A&E reality series, was filmed at Parks Garden Center, 9010 Youngstown-Salem Road. The show airs at 10 p.m.
A crew from the show came to Parks on Oct.13 — a day after the annual World Championship Weigh-Off for giant pumpkins — and spent six hours filming. A dozen giant pumpkins that were contestants in the weigh-off were loaded up that day for transport to Louisville, Ky., where they were to be used in a municipal festival.
“Most of them were over 1,000 pounds, and some were 1,400 to 1,500 pounds,” said Tim Parks, owner of Parks Garden Center.
Parks couldn’t give too many details about the show because of the nondisclosure pact he signed with A&E. But he did say that it was an unusual shipment for his company.
“It’s not normal for us to ship this many at a time, and all to one place,” he said. “Usually it’s one or two at a time.”
The Northeast Ohio-western Pennsylvania area has many giant-pumpkin growers, and Parks has become a clearinghouse for the gargantuan gourds.
On “Shipping Wars,” a cast of haulers compete in unique and difficult shipping jobs. Jarrett gets the task of driving the pumpkins from Canfield to Kentucky, according to tvguide.com.
The A&E series likely caught wind of the task after an official for the Louisville parks department placed an ad on a shipping website seeking a hauler to pick up and transport the 12 giant pumpkins, said Parks.