University of Montana Tradition Makes National Headlines

Fall time in Missoula is as good as it gets unless you're a summer fanatic, I guess. Then you probably prefer floating the river, hiking the M, and overall enjoying the nice warm weather from June to August. Even if you're a summer loony, you have to recognize the beauty of Autumnal Missoula.

Griz football takes over Saturday mornings, mountains become speckled in yellow, orange and red, and temps shift from blistering heat to comfortable cool. Now, one fall tradition in Missoula is garnering national attention.

Montana's Pumpkin on the spire

UPI published an article on September 16th titled "Pumpkin reappears on University of Montana spire in 30-year mystery."

A pumpkin was placed on top of the Missoula school's Main Hall for the 30th consecutive year recently, but the identities of the anonymous pranksters remain a decades-long mystery," said Ben Hooper with UPI.

 

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NBC Montana recently published a short piece on the actual climb to get the pumpkin on top of the spire. According to the article, UM has even hired people to safely install the pumpkin for October instead of putting students' lives at risk.

The mystery around the great pumpkin makes it such a unique tradition. Who installed the first pumpkin? How did it get there? Why was the idea thought of?

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Maybe it's best that way. Keep the mystique around the pumpkin spire alive. There's no need to open the curtain to the operation. It's like Santa Claus in that regard. We don't need to know how Santa delivers all of those gifts in a single night.

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Anyway, happy pumpkin-on-a-spire month, and please don't attempt to scale Main Hall anytime soon. That is a difficult climb, and you'll surely fall off and break every bone in your body.