| ||||||||||
 
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details 
  
Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig 
Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... 
|
October 20, 1977 Around Adair with Ed Waggener The article below first appeared in the October 20, 1977 issue of the Daily Statesman. It was devoted entirely to Ernest Rainwater's giant pumpkin, and the accompanying photo went on to attract the attention of Bob Hill at the Courier-Journal, as noted in the October 21, 1977 Around Adair with Ed Waggener. --Pen By Ed Waggener Ernest Rainwater, Route 1, Knifley, has raised the biggest pumpkin ever seen in these parts. The pumpkin weighs 185 pounds, and measures 28 inches in diameter and stands 24 1/2 inches tall. Rainwater isn't claiming the pumpkin is any kind of a record, but, as a basis for comparison, he points out that Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Tom Harris took a Kentucky pumpkin which weighed 122 pounds to a contest in Pennsylvania and it came in eighth in the contest. Rainwater is going to give the pumpkin to his daughter, Glenda James Beard, a lawyer in Attorney General Bob Stephens' office in Frankfort. Mrs. Beard will present the pumpkin to Commissioner Harris, who will be able to establish its claim to any record, and will give him still another thing to talk about Adair County in addition to Junior Walker's jacks and jennets and Adair County dairying. Gave away a 132-pound pumpkin The humongous pumpkin was not the only whopper in the patch. Rainwater gave his brother, J.D. Rainwater, a little 132-pound pumpkin. "I think they put that one on display in the Taylor County Farm Bureau office," Rainwater said. So far, Rainwater says, he's had only a $5 offer for the pumpkin, but even at a greater price, he won't sell. "I'm giving this one to my daughter, Glenda, regardless," he said. The pumpkin story had been of only local concern until Gaylon Yarberry, the Adair County Republican chairman, went electioneering at Knifley. Yarberry is from Toria Road, and he had never seen such a pumpkin. "He told me, when he came to the house," Rainwater said, "that he was going to take my pumpkin. I told him that if he could load it in his car, he was welcome to it." Despite this offer, ex-Marine Yarberry was unable to claim the prize. He did bring the news of the pumpkin back to town. Rainwater known for hams Rainwater is primarily in the tobacco, corn, hay, and beef cattle business, which he raises on the two farms which make up his 145 acres. Besides that, he is known as the best curer of country hams in this country. He is raising some of the prettiest Chinese chestnut trees in Adair County. This year, the four four-year-old trees on his place were bearing heavily, and small chestnut trees are sprouting under the larger ones. "I want you to take some chestnuts to my dear double-first cousin in Columbia," Rainwater said, "and take her some of these plantings, too." His double-first cousin, Cornelia Rainwater Hughes, was elated to receive the gallon of chestnuts and the second chestnut tree to match her own. "I'll send the other two trees to Billy Fred in Bullitt County," she said. Billy Fred is her son who lives between Shepherdsville and Mt. Washington. Rainwater's other child, Wendell, works for General Telephone in Columbia. "He's the meanest boy I've got," Rainwater said, adding, "but then, Wendell is the only boy I've got." This story was posted on 2019-10-27 15:28:51
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know.
More articles from topic Around Adair with Ed Waggener:
October 14, 1977 Around Adair with Ed Waggener October 19, 1977 Around Adair with Ed Waggener October 7, 1977 Around Adair with Ed Waggener September 17, 1977 Around Adair with Ed Waggener Septemer 16, 1977 Around Adair with Ed Waggener September 15, 1977 Around Adair with Ed Waggener September 23, 1977 Around Adair with Ed Waggener October 8, 1977 Around Adair with Ed Waggener August 20, 1977 Around Adair with Ed Waggener February 14, 1978 Around Adair with Ed Waggener View even more articles in topic Around Adair with Ed Waggener |
 
115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
  
   
 Provided by the Adair Co Fiscal Court and the Adair Co. Emergency Mgt. Agency 
|
||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
|
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
| ||||||||||
