Cabbage king cashes in again with one of the largest entries in fair history

What you need to know:

• Scott Robb won the 30th annual Alaska State Fair Cabbage Weigh-Off with a 122.7-pound cabbage, earning $1,000 and his fourth consecutive victory. His 138.25-pound cabbage from 2012 remains the world record.
• Nine-year-old Paul Dinkel placed second, Brian Shunskis took third and 12-year-old Hunter Sterling won the junior division for the second consecutive year.
• Alaska’s giant-cabbage tradition remains a major community attraction. Growers credited genetics, pest protection and careful cultivation for their success.
• Short on time but need the local news scoop? Get free weekly news in your inbox for Mat-Su, from Mat-Su.

PALMER – Alaska’s cabbage king is taking home some serious salad.

Palmer’s Scott Robb won $1,000 cash and bragging rights for another year with a massive 122.7-pound cabbage Friday night at the 30th annual Alaska State Fair Cabbage Weigh-Off in Palmer.

His secret? A good fence, raised beds for the cabbages and great genetics.

“Every year’s a little bit different, but it’s the same,” he said after claiming victory in front of a packed crowd inside the livestock arena in the Farm Exhibits building.

Indeed it is. Friday’s win marks four straight wins for Robb, whose 138.25-pound entry in 2012 remains the world record.

His Friday night entry was the closest he or anyone else has come to that mark.

The top three finishers were identical to last year’s, with 9-year-old Paul Dinkel of Wasilla placing second with a 98.2-pound cabbage and Brian Shunskis of Salcha turning in an 85.3-pounder.

Dinkel is a fourth-generation grower from a veggie dynasty whose dad, Seth, won the competition in 2001 and 2002 when he was Paul’s age. Shunskis is a five-time champion who last won in 2022.

Willow’s Hunter Sterling won the Max Sherrod Junior Division for the second straight year with a 32.7-pound cabbage. Palmer’s Josh, Eddie and Daryl Harmon were second, followed by Andi and Wyatt Welch.

The annual celebration of the region’s cruciferous fixation came on the heels of a separate cabbage-centric ceremony early in the week. Gov. Mike Dunleavy visited the fair Monday for a ceremonial bill signing designating the cabbage as the state’s official vegetable. The bill also updates agricultural land leasing and sales rules and rules related to industrial hemp grown in the state.

The cabbages will be on display at the fair through the event's final day Monday.

Heavy hitter

Before the event, there were whispers that Robb’s giant entry this year could challenge the record. But as he entered the Farm Exhibits center, he said he thought it would likely come up a bit short.

“It was kind of a slow spring,” said Robb, who grows his cabbages on a plot of land at his home on Lazy Mountain.

Though it came up a few pounds shy of the record, Friday’s winner was one of the heaviest ever produced — only Robb’s 2012 record, Steve Hubacek’s 127-pounder in 2009 and Hubacek’s 126.4-pounder in 2011 were larger. It’s the largest winning cabbage since 2012 and dwarfed last year’s champ, an 84.2-pounder produced during an especially cold winter.

Robb said a cross between two different cabbage breeds he created in 2015 has produced consistently large cabbages that don’t split. He protects them with raised boxes to prevent slugs and a good electric fence to keep the moose away.

Aside from good genetics, Robb said growing giant vegetables (in the past he’s also set world records for cantaloupe, celery, kale, kohlrabi, rutabaga and turnip) is a pastime he truly loves.

“It’s just what I like to do,” said Robb, who said he grew up reading Jack London stories about Alaska and moved here in 1982 hoping to pursue a wild lifestyle. He found it, first mushing dogs and then getting into growing giant vegetables.

Robb is something of a celebrity in the cabbage world, and competitors eagerly awaited the arrival of his massive cabbage on a sun-drenched Friday afternoon. Oohs and aahs greeted the big vegetable as four people hauled it into the cavernous farm building, which also houses the livestock and other produce competitions.

“Scott Robb is the master,” said official David Wartinbee, who traveled from Soldotna to help officially certify the size of the cabbage had it qualified for a world record.

Robb said his wife, Mardie, is a big key to his success.

“She’s a tremendous support,” he said. “There’s only so much you can say about cabbages, but she listens.”

Wartinbee was among a cadre of officials that included two professionals from the Alaska Division of Measurement Standards to ensure the accuracy of the scales. The rules are strict — cabbages can’t be split or disfigured, no foreign objects may be added, and roots must be trimmed within 2 inches of the leaves.

Most of the cabbages entered Friday were cut just hours before the contest and driven to the fairgrounds. Members of the Colony High JROTC program were enlisted to lift the massive vegetables onto plastic sheets or tarps and carry them into the sawdust-ringed livestock pen at the center of the Farm Exhibits building.

A field of newcomers

Though the contest was dominated by familiar names, a few newcomers got their hands dirty in what has become one of the signature spectacles of the State Fair. Anchorage’s Paige Kendrick said her friend, AnnMarie Henderson, convinced the first-time gardener to get involved this spring as a fun project.

“It’s the only thing I’ve ever tried to grow,” Kendrick said of her 12.3-pound cabbage she named “Mega Mind.”

Junior winner Hunter Sterling, 12, said he first started getting interested in growing big vegetables during a trip to the fair four years ago.

“I didn’t have anything to do at the fair,” he said. “And I saw a massive pumpkin.”

Sterling stumbled across a giant pumpkin grown by Dale Marshall and was hooked. A couple of years later, he switched to cabbages.

He said the trick is keeping pests off by using raised boxes and carefully examining the cabbage leaves.

“See those holes,” he said, pointing to another competitor’s plant. “That’s from slugs.”

Sterling — who also entered seven turkeys in the livestock competition — said he likes growing things because he can watch the progress of what he’s raising.

“It started as a seed and became … that,” he said, pointing toward his cabbage.

Some of the most enthusiastic entries came from the Native Village of Eklutna, which produced a pair of entries and showed up en masse wearing matching “Savage Cabbage” T-shirts with the word “Gabusda” (“cabbage” in Dena’ina) printed on the bottom.

Eklutna Garden Manager Alex Rogers Spexarth said she thinks the key to growing a good cabbage is fish emulsion fertilizer.

Growing the cabbages was a community affair for the village, which hosted a “cabbage party” the day before the contest before coming out to support Rogers and Natalie Velez, the tribe’s Land and Environment Director.

“We’re all leaves on the same cabbage,” Rogers said.

Matt Tunseth is a freelance writer from Southcentral Alaska. Write to him at matthew.tunseth@gmail.com.