Massachusetts welcomes Scottish traffic cone after World Cup fan visit
Gov. Maura Healey greeted the decorated “Boston Cone” at Logan Airport before its charity tour across Massachusetts.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
3 min read
Massachusetts officials gave an orange traffic cone a formal welcome at Boston Logan International Airport on Tuesday, marking the latest turn in Boston’s warm response to Scotland fans who visited during the World Cup. The cone will tour state landmarks for charity after Scottish supporters turned the object into a symbol of their stay.
The “Boston Cone” arrived from Glasgow on a first-class flight and was met in Terminal E by a bagpiper, diplomats, Gov. Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, according to officials at the ceremony. Healey signed the cone during the event.
“I have to admit, this is probably — yes, it is — my first official welcoming ceremony for a traffic cone,” Healey said. She called it a marker of “what happened this summer” in Boston and across Massachusetts.
Healey also thanked Scottish fans for “drinking all the beer,” a reference to Boston bars that struggled to meet demand during the Tartan Army’s visit, with some running out and arranging emergency deliveries. “I do promise you, when you return … we will never again run out of beer in Massachusetts,” she said.
Scottish supporters filled parts of downtown Boston with songs, chants and bagpipes during the World Cup, according to city officials and event accounts. Their habit of placing orange cones on statues appeared across well-known sites, including the Samuel Adams statue near Faneuil Hall, Red Auerbach outside TD Garden, former Mayor Kevin White near Quincy Market and the Make Way for Ducklings statues in the Public Garden.
Wu said Boston had “unofficially become New Scotland” during the tournament and joked that some cones remained on important statues.
A Glasgow joke becomes a Boston charity tour
The commemorative cone is decorated with images tied to Boston and Scotland and carries the slogan “No Boston, No Party.” Organizers said it will spend the next week visiting landmarks around Massachusetts to raise money for mental health charities, then return to Scotland.
The cone-on-statue tradition began in Glasgow in the 1980s as a late-night prank, according to accounts of the custom. It later became an informal emblem of Scottish humor, especially through the Duke of Wellington statue in central Glasgow, where the traffic cone has become a familiar fixture despite attempts to remove it.
Danny Campbell, one of the cone’s Scottish escorts, stood beside it in a kilt and described the tradition as more than a joke. “It’s an in-joke that’s gone too far, actually,” Campbell said, laughing. “But no, it isn’t a joke. This is a metaphor for life.”
Campbell said Scottish fans in Boston brought humor and connection, while also cleaning up after themselves. “They left stomachs and cheeks sore from laughing,” he said. “This is not just a silly cone. It means love. It means love, and that is the whole point.”
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.