The area's pumpkin crop matured at least two weeks early this year because of the heavy rains and other weather conditions, causing both excitement and concern among growers and pumpkin carvers worried they'll rot before Halloween.

"They're excellent this year, perfect," said Gary Heck, of Arena, who grows 20,000 pumpkins annually and won the state's giant pumpkin competition in 1979 with his 374-pound entry.

Heck is aware of some concern that the early maturation will mean droopy jack-o-lanterns, but he's optimistic. "Pumpkins can last until Christmas unless they're diseased," said Heck, who sells the gourds at his farm and at the Dane County Farmers' Market. "You never know what will happen. A pumpkin could say to itself, 'OK, I'm done growing. Now I'll start disintegrating.' But I don't see that happening. I'm not seeing disease on (carving) pumpkins, though there has been some on the baking pumpkins and squash.

"If you see little white specks on the outside of a pumpkin you can wipe it off with a four-to-one solution of water and bleach. But if there's disease inside, it's over. You can tell if there's disease inside if there are little watery holes that look like pinholes."