You may remember that Josh Shaffer wrote about Todd Dawson's giant 282-pound watermelon a few weeks ago -- the one that broke a state record and was only 9 pounds shy of breaking a world record. That melon, grown in Garner, is on display at the N.C. State Fair in Expo Center, along with the Fair's blue ribbon giant pumpkin.

The pumpkin, weighing in at 522.8 pounds didn't break any records, but it's a crowd pleaser. All day long, folks perch on a bench in front of the pumpkin to have their picture taken near the massive gourd. Johnny Tolle, who minds the giants and answers questions about them from fairgoers, says the all-time pumpkin record in North Carolina is 1,256 pounds, and that last year's pumpkin was over 800 pounds. Tolle says the weather this year wasn't ideal for growing pumpkins of the extra humongous variety. The prize pumpkin was grown by Susie Zuerner from Henderson County.

Are you ready for Thanksgiving? What will you have for dessert? You can have the standard pumpkin pie or how about a pumpkin icebox pie?

Pumpkins are everywhere but you can leave the pumpkin outside your door and make this soup from canned pumpkin. It's surprisingly good and really easy to make.