Minneapolis’ 20-foot-tall pencil dressed as Vikings star for Halloween

The giant pencil is hittin’ the griddy this Halloween.

It’s dressed up as Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson, donning a 4XL-sized No. 18 Vikings jersey, huge gold chains, a mouth grill, oversized shoulder pads, big white pants — and old-school tube socks with purple stripes.

Its pencil tip pokes through the helmet.

“The pencil watches kids play football over there,” said LOTI pencil co-creator John Higgins, pointing across the street. “The pencil loves the Vikings.”

But it’s not just the pencil. Higgins and his wife, Amy, are big Vikings fans.

“Justin Jefferson is not only a superstar athlete, but he’s a local hero and also a really good person,” Higgins said.

The couple struggled with whether to give the pencil gold-colored cleats like the ones Jefferson wears.

The pencil is ready to go for the Minnesota Vikings’ Oct. 19 game vs. the Philadelphia Eagles.

Minneapolis resident Rebecca Burke lives near Cedar Lake, but comes down to Lake of the Isles to go walking. She’s watched the pencil since its humble beginnings in 2022.

“I’m from a family of Vikings fans so I have to approve,” Burke said. “My brother has season tickets, so I will send a picture [of the pencil] to him.”

The pencil is iconic around the lake.

“Anyone who would be willing to take this gorgeous house and put this funny, silly sculpture in front of it — right away they’re just copacetic people,” she said.

Last year the pencil dressed up as Superman. The couple blasted R.E.M.’s song “Superman” on the weekends.

The pencil landed in the Higginses’ front yard in June 2022, some five years after the upper canopy of a 180-year-old oak tree fell onto their front lawn during a storm.

The couple transformed it into a public work of art in the shape of a No. 2 pencil. They hired wood sculptor Curtis Ingvoldstad to craft it. Each summer it gets sharpened, and the public is invited to watch.

About 4,000 people showed up for its fourth annual sharpening in June that fell on Prince’s birthday. Even Mayor Jacob Frey danced on the lawn.

Los Angeles-based documentary filmmaker Daniel Straub is working on a short film about the LOTI pencil titled “A Short Documentary About a Giant Pencil.”

“We hand out candy, of course, but we also hand out pencils,” Higgins said.