As a 2nd generation UM alumni, I do vaguely remember the pumpkin thing from my time there in the 90's. More importantly, though, Montana is a cool fucking place and I miss it. Missoula and Bozeman both have a lot to offer (never figured out the point of that college rivalry bullshit), but one of my favorite Norman McClean lines comes to mind:
... God Is Love. We always assumed that these three words were spoken directly to the four of us in our family and had no reference to the world outside, which my brother and I soon discovered was full of bastards, the number increasing rapidly the farther one gets from Missoula, Montana.