BOSTON — Steve Connolly of Sharon is truly the heavyweight champion of the Topsfield Fair — he just bagged his fourth win at the fair’s 40th All New England Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off.

“In what’s called rapid growth, back in late June, early July, it was putting on 60 pounds every day,” Connolly told the AFP News Agency at the competition, “like a big, hungry teenager.”

Connolly took first place Friday in the weigh-off with a pumpkin that weighed more than a ton: 2,211 pounds. He was followed by Connecticut’s Alex Noel in second place with a 1,921-pound pumpkin, with Massachusetts’ Ed Pappas’s 1,917-pound pumpkin taking third.

Connolly got a check from the fair for $6,500 for his win. The fair began on Friday and continues through Oct. 14.

Connolly is no newcomer to the field of growing huge gourds. The 2018 inductee into the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth Hall of Fame first entered the Topsfield Fair competition with a 623-pound pumpkin in 1996. He’d achieve his first 1st-place win four years later with a 1,009-pounder, and out-do himself with 1st-place wins there in 2010 (a 1,674-pounder) and 2016 (a 2,075-pounder).

But he doesn’t just stick to the Topsfield Fair, as his Hall of Fame biography shows a total of 28 awards, including several more first-place wins at other fairs and events — and that’s just as of 2018.

He appears to sell seeds from his prized gourds — pumpkins and bushel gourds — at WorldClassGardening.com.

Gov. Maura Healey, who was at the ceremony to present Connolly with his check, highlighted what the fair, which dates back to 1818, and what it celebrates.

“This is Massachusetts’ original industry, right? Agriculture. And this is the oldest agricultural fair in the entire country,” she said. “It’s really important that people know our history and our agricultural history, which is strong still in Massachusetts.”

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