Olpea, Congratulations! I am so happy for you!
You are on NPR, it has national reach. Can I shake your hand? you are the only celebrity I know.
Lol. Itās been fun to just sit back and watch. This morning a radio station out of Maryland called (got me out of bed) and wanted to do a phone interview. When I declined, he wanted to fly out and look at the orchard. I told him there really wasnāt anything special to look at. I think I finally dissuaded him. He told me it was being reported in the UK. I never would have thought a big peach would make that kind of news.
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Olpea, I didnāt see your post of video and AP news until now. AP has worldwide reach, now you are world famous! I Watched the video, it was fun.
Can you get some inexpensive t- shirt printed with some design about world largest peach? Put on your website and in your store, maybe people would like to get one as souvenir. Souvenir can go much further than your fruit. Then accept all the interviews and mention your websiteš and I will take 1% profit for coming up with the idea, hahaā¦
When the Guinness record become official you should get another round of publicity, right?
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Very cool!! Nice job!
So fun, Mark! I think you should do all the interviews! What great publicity for your orchard! Do you remember what rootstock your āLady Nancyā is on? The video at the lab was very interesting, this is so much fun and thanks for sharing with us! Good for you!!
Patty S.
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Mark, say hello to your new friend! 
Congrats! Thatās quite an accomplishment!!
Thanks Patty,
That particular tree is on Tennessee Natural. I donāt have a lot of trees on Tenn. Nat. but as far as I can tell it performs well.
I am glad for the news coverage. One thing which occurred to me is that even if people pay little attention to the name of my orchard they will probably somewhat remember the news story, so that if they Google āworld record peachā (even though I Guinness hasnāt certified my peach yet) they will be able to find the orchard, if they want peaches.
Ha Ha. Actually I am doing one more interview tomorrow morning for a radio station in Salina KS. I doubt anyone else will want an interview, but either way I probably wonāt do any more interviews. I have to admit I get pretty anxious about doing interviews. This will all die down in a day or two, then it will be back to my old routine of trying to grow and pedal peaches
Ha Ha, I doubt it will make much of a blip then. Iām just floored the story got this much attention and I canāt explain it. People break food records all the time - largest apple, cucumber, pumpkin so Iām not sure what happened with this story, but it has been kinda fun.
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Thatās fantastic! Congratulations, Mark!
BTW, I happened to find your website a few months back while searching for some peach descriptions, but I didnāt know then it was yours! A very nice family picture on the websiteās first page!
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My middle son asked me today if Iād seen your peach. Heād heard the story on NPR and knew it was you. 
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If I had an orchard I would do all the interviews. I get that completely. In my situation, If I happen to grow the largest peach here, now. I probably would not summit it. We do know that your peach is not the largest. Just the largest submitted. I totally get not submitting, and as stated I would not either. I so dislike the news people, as I have seen them wreck lives and such. Mostly associated with tragedy. Total exploitation of peopleās misery. It happened to a good friend who lost her 3 year old son in a freak accident. I now have to refrain from hurting news people. I will never talk to them under any circumstances.
Unless youāve grown a heavier one or know of someone who has you know nothing of the sort, although the presumption seems accurate enough. This is about verified records and as much about fun as anything- your note is not exactly a barrel full of monkeys.
Iāve had problems with the few press interviews Iāve done- the writers didnāt seem sticklers for accuracy but I donāt think their is any connection between tragedy porn journalism and a story covering a really big peach- that would be a topic for another topic.
As far as handling the press in matters related to oneās profession, I now think it is a good idea to require a fact check before publication.
I, for one, love journalists- some more the others, of course. The media outlets that focus on human tragedy unrelated to larger issues are not where I go for news but it is a big business form of entertainment. The entertained are as culpable as the entertainers.
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Iām just going by what Olpea said, so ask him.He mentions a bigger peach i think in the first post.
My post was rather cold. I didnāt mean it like that. I would for sure do exactly what Mark did if I had an orchard. It was an excellent opportunity, and looked like a lot of fun too! When such an opportunity presents itself, one needs to take advantage of it. For me it offers no advantage to report, so i would not. Sorry for any confusion as what I meant.
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Iām still at the farm typing from my phone so excuse any typos, etc. Autocorrect isnāt my best friend .
Itās true the heaviest peach which grew on one of my trees this year is not the heaviest peach ever reported. Paul Friday has reported a heavier peach. And other grower in MI has reported a slightly heavier peach yet.
However, if my peach is accepted by Guinness, it will be the heaviest peach ever verified with them.
I think this is the way of things. To draw an analogy, I would be surprised if some of Michael Phelps records have not been broken in practice, observed by coaches and their athletes, but I suppose the celebration comes when itās official.
When I first weighed this big peach, there was some confusion on my part what the actual record was. A relative actually called Paul Friday on the phone (if I had known he was going to do that, I would never have let him bother the guy.)
Paul did indicate he held the Guinness 2002 record and did indicate in some subsequent year once picked about 10 huge peaches off a tree, one of which beat his previous record substantially. He told my relative since he already held the record, he didnāt want to go through the verification process to move the bar up. I can totally understand. Subsequently, someone claimed to beat Paul Fridayās biggest peach.
However, since it was clear my peach beat the Guinness record Paul Friday held, I decided to pursue the official record.
As Alan correctly saw it, it was mostly done as a fun thing, although I admit the mention of my peach orchard was in the back of my mind
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Mark,
I donāt have a commercial orchard, but if any of the fruit I grow could be on the Guinness Book of World Record, I would try to get on it. To me, itād be a lot of fun, a personal pride and a right to brag
Youāve earned it. In fact, I would be proud if I were from Kansas, the place where the world largest peach was grown.
Let us know when it is official. Also, thank you for teaching us how to submit the application to Guinness. I am hoping that my jujubes would hold the world record of the smallest jujubes ever ripen
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This entire story is so cool on many levels. My whole job site now knows that the largest peach ever grown grew in Kansas. Congrats to youā¦ Let the legend grow!!!
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Just wanted to follow up on this thread. It turns out we did have the biggest peach at 770 grams, but only for a month. A Canadian grower by the name of Robert Hogue of Roseridge Orchards in British Columbia, Canada beat both Paul Fridayās peach and ours. Paul Fridayās 2002 record peach weighed 725 grams. Ours weighed 770 grams picked and weighed in August 2016. Robert Hogueās peach weighed 810 grams.
Thatās the way it goes. The old record held for 14 years, mine held for less than a month, Lol.
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Well, your ā10 Seconds of Fameā, but youāre still a superstar for us, Olpea Did the news happen to say what variety Robert Hogue great to beat everyone elseās peach?
Patty S.
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Yes Patty. He grew the world record peach from Autumnstar.
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Mark,
At least, you are in the record book. Congrats.
Autumn Star? Now, maybe, I should try to grow large peaches, too, if flower buds are not all killed by now.
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Olpea, I canāt help but be reminded of when I was in junior high we had a plaque in the gym with all the school records for track and field as well as the names of the record holders. I wanted my name up there so bad for the mile. Finally in 9th grade I broke it, 5:34! Three hours later THE SAME DAY some other kid broke mine. . .
never did get my name on that damn plaque
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