It’s still looking a lot like Halloween in Central Square

Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have all passed, but it’s still looking more like Halloween than Christmas in Central Square.

While there are signs of Christmas in the square – the nearby fire station has a lit wreath hanging up and a Salvation Army bell ringer was recently out collecting money – there are dozens of plastic pumpkin buckets hanging from the street lights and dotting the area near Massachusetts Avenue and Sidney Street.

The Halloween decorations have caused some residents and area workers to scratch their heads.

“I think it’s kind of odd and lazy,” said Rachel Stigdon, a Cambridge resident as she passed through the square this week.

The Central Square Business Association put up the decorative pumpkins before Halloween.
Robin Lapidus, the association’s executive director, said that the pumpkins were a “seasonal” decoration for the fall and their being taken down was delayed when Hurricane Sandy hit the area.

She said the pumpkins would be taken down soon – likely this week – and replaced with lighted snowflakes ahead of an upcoming tree lighting.

“Our mission is to make the streets of Central Square noticeably attractive and interesting and so that is really the intention with the pumpkins and the snowflakes,” she said.

And not everyone found the pumpkins’ presence odd.

“I actually think it’s kind of sweet,” said Hannah Sokol, who stopped in Tosconini’s during a visit from Chicago.