The great pumpkin man of Littlefork has announced the start of Halloween season in Borderland.
A large wooden pumpkin can be seen outside of Littlefork on the Bruce and Bonnie Junker property. The pumpkin appears to be held by “Walter”, a life-size structure of a man with his arms extended, and standing about eight feet off of the ground on an iron pedestal.
Walter was created by Donny Belanger, a friend of the family who likes to do unique projects in addition to his sand blasting and painting work.
Belanger built Walter around an iron pipe with the idea that he would hold up a large bale of hay for the summer. He came to the Junkers for a place to put the large project together.
The family has since taken to the new landmark.
“I am not sure if I am ever going to give it back,” said Bruce Junker.
The idea to convert Walter to pumpkin holder stems from a little neighborhood rivalry.
“One year we didn’t put up any Halloween decorations and our neighbor rubbed us a little bit,” said Junker. “So we thought maybe we would do something this year.”
“Maybe now we will think up something for Christmas,” he added.
This is the first time that Walter’s usual hay bale load has been replaced, and Junker said it required some innovation.
Bruce and Bonnie, along with daughter Whitney, 17, started on the pumpkin project with Bruce’s brother Mike, whom is credited with much of the creative work. Mike also named Walter, though Bruce said he isn’t quite sure if it is named after anyone in particular.
The pumpkin is a reel, from power cable, which has been painted orange and black with some mill felt added to fill in the gaps. An eight-inch stove pipe was placed on top to serve as the pumpkin vine.
“If we had gone with smaller pipe it would not have shown up as good from the road,” Bruce Junker said.
Junker said that most of the work on the project was structural and not even noticeable to people looking at the pumpkin. There are three rods on Walter that hold the hay bales in place. They were replaced with a makeshift framework to hold the pumpkin’s wooden reel in place, and keep it from rolling off Walter’s outreached hands.
The pumpkin was placed on Walter early last week and the structure now stands around 15 feet off the ground. Orange lights have been aimed at it to make it shine at night.
“You can see from a long ways away,” Junker said. “Cars are beginning to drive by and are slowing down to look.”
To view the pumpkin take Minnesota Highway 217 about a mile outside of Littlefork and turn right on County Road 8, also known as Cingmars Road, and go another five or six miles until you see the pumpkin.
