Lansing gets a new set of giant pumpkins modeled after its Big Red Balls

A new set of four 6-foot ornaments stacked in a small pyramid has been temporarily installed inside the roundabout at Michigan and Washington avenues, and right in front of the iconic view of the state capitol.

The Big Spooky Pumpkins were hauled in farm-fresh from Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland and planted at a time when most pumpkins are starting to be picked.

The intersection is popular as the Christmas season home of Lansing’s four giant red ornaments, known in polite company as the “Orbs of Winter.”

But no one calls them that.

The ornaments are instead known by the unofficial and sophomoric aptronym of “Big Red Balls.”

In earlier years, they were known as “Virg’s red balls” in honor of Virg Bernero, the sometimes-angry mayor who led the city when the roundabout was built in 2009 and the balls became a tradition.

Christmas, Halloween … when is it enough?

The installation of the pumpkins, the second set of decorations, has opened Lansing’s imagination.

What is the next giant set of balls that would fit in downtown? 

Baseballs for the Lansing Lugnuts? Basketballs for a March Madness run?

Olives to celebrate the city’s signature burger? The sky is the limit, and even the sky could inspire a set of moons or suns in downtown.

In less than a week, the Spooky Balls have become part of Lansing’s Halloween season. They are expected to anchor the downtown’s Trick or Treat on the Square event from 5 p.m.-7 p.m. on Oct. 30.

How’d Lansing get here?

Lansing installed the red ornaments for the first time in 2009, they’re usually taken down in January and brought back to kick off the Christmas shopping season in downtown.

They were popular for years but when the Big Red Balls were nearly lost, they became more of a permanent fixture.

A driver busted the balls in 2018, smashing into them while sliding on icy roads in the last days of the year. 

The balls were taken down. Not much happened until social media helped to rally people around the ornaments in fall 2019. 

The Big Red Balls were in jeopardy, with an estimated $7,000 for repairs.  A 10-foot metal sun sculpture from that summer’s Scrap Fest was considered and Mayor Andy Schor floated the idea of buying the artwork personally.

The ornaments were saved, however, by a last-minute donation from developer Paul Gentilozzi. The made-for-TV drama helped to solidify the warm spot Lansing has for the red balls and made them more of a focal point for the city’s Silver Bells in the City celebration.

Silver Bells this year

The festival is considered the biggest annual event in Lansing, bringing about 40,000 people into downtown. For one night, Silver Bells swells the population of the Capitol City from sixth-largest to the third-largest city in Michigan.

“It’s the introduction of the winter season for Mid-Michigan,” said Rachel Beatty, marketing manager for Legends Global Lansing, the company that runs many of the former LEPFA operations, including the Lansing Center and the Lansing Lugnuts’ home of Jackson Field.

The 42nd annual Silver Bells will be run on Friday, Nov. 20, and for the first time in years it will go on without longtime showrunner Mindy Biladeau.

Beatty will run this year’s event; she has worked with Biladeau during the last several Silver Bells festivals.

A new parade grand marshal and the rest of the year’s lineup will be announced soon, but not yet so it doesn’t compete with the Halloween-time events, Beatty said.

Expect to see all of the usual bells and whistles in downtown this year, she said.

“The Spooky Pumpkins will help to transition the excitement into the downtown area; we will see trick-or-treating, and the transition to Silver Bells is super fast,” Beatty said.

The Spooky Balls are expected to come down on Nov. 5, a Thursday that comes right after the whole city of Lansing takes its annual post-election day nap. (Don’t forget to vote on Nov. 3.)

The Spooky Balls will be quickly replaced by the Big Red Balls, marking the transition from Jack Skellington to Santa Claus.

Tell me more about the Spooky Balls

The pumpkin ornaments were bought by Downtown Lansing Inc., using private fundraising money. 

DLI worked with Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland’s commercial division on the custom jack-o’-lantern theme, with anti-graffiti coating, because no one has 6-foot pumpkin ornaments just lying around.

The goal is to help drive foot traffic into downtown and to bring the Big Red Balls attraction into the fall weather.

While it may seem feasible to repaint or apply a car-style vinyl wrap to the existing set, officials said they considered that but it wouldn’t have worked.

Scott Bean, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office, insists there are now eight ornaments between the two sets, no funny business.

They are hollow, made of fiberglass and weigh only 150 pounds, which is not bad at all for a 6-foot globe intended to be outside and occasionally poked at by the general public.

But a six-foot globe, even a relatively light one, isn’t handholdable. 

So the crew of city and Board of Water and Light workers used cranes and power tools to maneuver and secure the Big Red Balls.

One lesson learned in the installation is that putting the four Big Red Balls into place is mostly a matter of making sure they don’t roll away.

But facing each of the four jack-o’-lanterns eastward and just so, for better photo ops, took a bit longer.