Herwood sign returns to Hallila rock as Hervanta marks 52nd year

The Herwood sign has returned to Hallila rock beside Hervannan valtaväylä, with the Hollywood-style letters spotted near the tram line as Hervanta marks its 52nd year, Tamperelainen reported.

The prank dates back to 1996, when engineering students first installed the letters as a May Day stunt. Students reinstalled the sign for Hervanta’s 30th anniversary in 2003 with help from the student union of Tampere University of Technology and the Hervanta HerPro EU project, which obtained permission from the Finnish Road Administration. The letters were removed a month later as agreed. A 2013 attempt to place the sign on Hallila rock failed to win permission; the letters were instead displayed at the Hervannan valtaväylä and Hepolamminkatu junction.

Pinja Varis, chair of Tampereen Teekkarit ry, suspects unknown members of the student body put the letters up again to mark the association’s 61st anniversary and the tram’s fifth anniversary. They look well preserved, she said, suggesting they may have been stored on the Hervanta campus. The sign sits a few hundred metres from the Hallila tram stop, on the path between Hallila and Lukonmäen.