A humble orange traffic cone got the red-carpet treatment in Boston this week. Fresh off a first-class flight from Glasgow, the cone was welcomed at Boston Logan International Airport with a bagpiper in full regalia, diplomats, the governor, and the mayor. Tuesday’s arrival of the “Boston Cone” was the latest chapter in the city’s unlikely love affair with Scotland’s Tartan Army, whose fans made a habit of perching traffic cones atop statues during the World Cup last month, turning the cone into one of the tournament’s defining symbols.
The tradition traces back to Glasgow, where placing cones on statues began as a 1980s prank, most famously on the Duke of Wellington statue. Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey joked it was her first official welcome ceremony for a traffic cone, then signed her name to it, as did Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. The gesture is tied to a budding sister-city partnership between Boston and Glasgow. Officials also raised the Scottish flag in the airport’s Hall of Flags for the first time.
Source: WCVB
