By Ryder Greco-Hall & Jackson Smith
Staff Writer and Co-Editor-in-Chief

Among the small businesses and quiet streets of Milwaukie, hand-blown glass pumpkins are being hidden with holiday spirit and the hope of bringing the community together. 

Throughout the month of October these glass pumpkins have been hidden around on select dates: Oct. 2-3, 8-11, 16-17 and 23-24. This is the final weekend to find your own glass pumpkin. The hints for each pumpkins are released on the Downtown Alliance of Milwaukie’s social media pages, mainly Instagram and Facebook.

The colorful glass pumpkins are carefully crafted and donated by local artist, Cheyenne Malcolm. 

Here in Milwaukie just off of SE Ochoco Street, Malcolm operates a glass studio equipment manufacturing company, Canned Heat Glass. The studio has been operating and running for 15 years.

A welder working on a piece of equipment in the studio. Photos by Aedin Maya

The studio themselves does not sell any products, though they do have their own private studio for blowing glass, according to Malcolm.

Malcolm doesn’t just help run the studio, however, he has been glass blowing for over 30 years. After seeing glass being blown in a studio in California, Malcolm fell in love with the process and wanted to try it for himself.

Malcolm posing with a glass pumpkin.

“I love glass art, I love the process of being a glass artist, and I love the product that comes out from the process,” said Malcolm.

Malcolm wanted to find a way to bring his creations to the people of Milwaukie, so he found a way to do that in partnership with the Downtown Alliance of Milwaukie.

“I started going to the Downtown Alliance of Milwaukie meetings,” Malcolm said. “How can I help, what I can do to be a part of DAM, it was an idea that I came up with.”

The idea stemmed from the glass floats found along the coastline of Lincoln City, and Malcolm took inspiration from the beloved beach tradition to orchestrate this glass pumpkin hunt.

Though this is the first year these glass-blown pumpkins have been hidden out among the streets of Milwaukie, it’s possible the pumpkin hunt could become a new tradition in town.

When a pumpkin is found, a QR code is found on the bottom of one to be scanned, allowing for whoever found it to post a picture to social media. Almost every pumpkin has been snatched up within the first day or two, showing the eagerness of the Milwaukie residents to get their hands on this fall oddity.

While Malcolm was the creator of the pumpkins, even he doesn’t know where these pumpkins are hidden.

“I donated the pumpkins to the DAM, and they decide where they hide them,” he said. “They would not tell me where they’re being hid, because they’re pretty sought after.”

Crafting a glass pumpkin can be a difficult thing, and someone would need a fair amount of experience to craft one themselves. However, there are classes offered around the Portland metro area to try your hand at glass-blowing.

A glass pumpkin in front of a glass furnace.

“Making a pumpkin itself only takes about 15-20 minutes, my answer would be 30 years and 15 minutes,” Malcolm said. “Someone with no experience would probably start with some smaller projects, if you were to go take a class from any of the people around here, Rachel Escoe, Local Art Glass, they’re gonna start you out with something that’s more suited for a beginner.” 

For those truly interested in trying out glass-blowing for themselves, Malcolm recommends visiting a local studio near you.

“One of the best ways to get into it is to look up your local glass blowing studio, show up, and volunteer to help,” said Malcolm.

Some glass figures found in the studio.

With the pumpkins being hidden all around Milwaukie, some might need help looking around. This hunt is a good way to bring people together and experience something new and fun.

Malcolm thinks that the pumpkin hunt is a good way to get the community together, and a good way to get more people to come to the city of Milwaukie.

“I think that this hunt does help bring the community together, I think that anytime you can get people from the residents of Milwaukie to come together and come downtown looking for anything, I think it helps,” Malcolm said. “I think that it also brings people to the downtown area, so hopefully that once they find a pumpkin they stop in and get some coffee or a sandwich or visit any of the local shops, I think it definitely helps.”

If you’re looking for a fun adventure or even just a reason to get out of the house, go and explore the streets of Milwaukie, meet some new people, discover new shops and most importantly, have fun. With time running out, maybe you can be the one to find one of the last few pumpkins hidden this weekend.