Put briefly, the pumpkin roll consists of the juniors and seniors at Chagrin Falls High school stealing pumpkins from residents of Chagrin Falls Ohio throughout the month of October so that they can smash them on a hill and sled down it in the dead of night. Upon viewing how long that last sentence was and how many questions it creates, it becomes evident that a brief description won’t be a good description, so here we go.
Simple Halloween decorations become a bit more precarious in my hometown. All through October, high schoolers will be driving around in groups “pumpkining” at night. Everyone there knows that if a pumpkin is both outside and visible to students scouring the streets, it won’t stay that way for long. Surprisingly, people are alright with that. Some buy extra pumpkins for kids to take, and some write encouraging messages on the pumpkins in marker. Because of these factors essentially meaning Chagrin residents consent to having their pumpkins taken, it’s generally okay for students to steal around this time of year. Even still, there seems to be one group of kids just about every year that gets caught stealing outside Chagrin. Stolen pumpkins are deposited into a barn, garage, etc. offered for storage by a kid’s family. After that, someone with a truck will transport the literal truckload of pumpkins to a place called Grove Hill at around 12:00 am – 1:00 am on a night in late October. The date is decided by students based on a lack of significant school events, tests, or projects on the next day. Grove Hill is essentially a very steep road with sidewalks on both sides that leads straight into town. While some students go to preliminary house parties before the roll, a few will handle unloading the pumpkins into a pile at the top of the hill. The local police have started attending, so as to block off the road for the event, and later cleanup process. While they are essentially condoning the event, the police’s presence there means that they have to acknowledge the crime being committed in some way, so Chagrin students have found a workaround. The only person who will be fined and have a crime on their record will be the person to smash the first pumpkin. The solution that has been found is to have a student’s parent volunteer to have this go on their record, and to have the students raise money for the fine leading up to the event. During my senior year, the fundraiser has been done through t-shirt sales.