RECORDS: On Aug. 19, Harrison City resident Erik Gunstrom welcomed an 8 lb 12 ounce marvel. It measured 2 feet 7 inches around its middle.

It’s officially the Guinness World Record-holding heaviest eggplant, verified by the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth.

The aubergine is about the size of a basketball. Gunstrom told Guinness he’s only been growing aubergines about three years, but he has a passion for growing giant vegetables. His personal record was a pumpkin at 2,405 pounds. The world’s heaviest stands at 2,749 pounds, grown by Travis Gienger in California.

There are lots of other record holders in Pennsylvania. In 2020, Philip Angus from Boyertown had set the record for the largest mouth gape — the distance between his upper and lower incisors when opening his mouth wide. His was at 3.75 inches. That’s a big mouth!

Henry Cabelus in Pittsburgh has set some records with a pogo stick. He achieved the highest jump in 2024 at 11.58 feet; 22 backflips in 2023; and the fewest jumps in one minute at 37 in 2022. He also set the record for the fastest 100 meters on a pogo stick in 20.19 seconds, also in 2022.

Stamp Camp USA in Elkland in June 2011 set a record for the largest collection of rainbow-related items, which consisted of 1,133 stamps.

The record for the largest bobblehead was set at the Ollie’s store in Harrisburg in 2022 with its mascot Ollie. The bobblehead was 16 feet, 6.73 inches tall.

The largest collection of Christmas tree stands is 1,197, set by Stanley Kohl in 2018. It makes more sense when you know it’s at Kohl’s Stony Hill Tree Farm in Danville.