Scarecrows aren鈥檛 just for the birds, sometimes they can also be great for community building and marketing a local business.

Uptown Rutland Business Association鈥檚 executive director, Laurel D鈥橝ndrea, said that鈥檚 precisely the point behind URBA鈥檚 annual Scarecrow Festival.

The 11th annual festival will be held in October and it will feature events for the entire family, including the pi猫ce de r茅sistance: the scarecrow-building competition. Around 160 scarecrows will be built on-site at Lions Park, 30 of which will be saved for local businesses owners to rep their brands.

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D鈥橝ndrea said the competition is something fierce. She has seen bakeries use their tasty treats to decorate their scarecrows, while plumbers rigged up pumpkins to look like 鈥減lumber鈥檚 crack鈥� as their scarecrow was fixing a toilet.

The URBA expects this year to be just as successful as last. They saw more than 5,000 people stroll through the park to admire the creations, peruse the craft market, enjoy some great food from food trucks and take in some entertainment for the strolling buskers.

The event is pretty green, too, she added. Hay purchased to stuff the scarecrows is recycled, clothing for the scarecrows is provided by Rutland thrift stores and it鈥檚 a great way to give second-life to old newspapers (for stuffing).

The real question is, will the weather hold out?

D鈥橝ndrea said they鈥檝e been lucky thus far, with only one event getting struck by a 鈥渇reak hail storm that dampened the mood.鈥� But once in 11 years isn鈥檛 all that bad.

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Caitlin.clow@kelownacapnews.com
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