By Khalida Sarwari
There’s a scarecrow hanging out in front of Burn, the new gym on Third Street, sporting a long, blonde ponytail and workout clothes, and another in front of Gluten Free Gourmet wearing an apron with baking and cooking utensils tucked into the pocket. Scarecrows are taking over downtown Saratoga, and that’s a good thing, if you ask Leslee Warwick and Laurel Perusa.
Warwick, who owns the Barn Owl, is the key mover behind the initiative, which was inspired by the city of Cambria’s popular annual scarecrow festival and is intended to celebrate autumn while at the same time attracting visitors to downtown.
“I love autumn,” said Perusa. “Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and I think the scarecrow project is so fun and festive and it brings even more delight to our Village.”
Perusa and Warwick are encouraging individuals and business owners to create homemade scarecrows that reflect the nature of their business, shop or organization.
Examples of people’s ingenuity are evident all over downtown. Students in Saratoga Elementary School’s garden club, for example, created a scarecrow using recycled materials. Deb Conway, a Village gardener and beekeeper, made a beekeeper scarecrow that’s on display in front of the Vine Life, where she sells her honey. Longtime resident Jack Dunstan created a scarecrow out of sunflower stalks and plopped it in front of Gilbert DuPont Salon. Perusa said it’s “very abstract.”
“I’m very struck by it,” she said. “It’s beautiful; I’ve never seen anything like it and it’s so simple but it’s really amazing.”
Meanwhile, Marcia Benson, owner of Benson Estate Sales, channeled her love of cats into a cat scarecrow. Those strolling by Saratoga Chocolates will notice a scarecrow with a pumpkin head and dressed in a chef’s attire sitting on a bench in front of the shop. And Rockin’ Kidz has a whole family of scarecrows on the front lawn.
The first time Warwick introduced the project a few years ago, there was a contest component where Studio (0), Vienna Woods and Vine Life took home first-place prizes. Now with the event in its third year, Warwick wants to focus just on getting downtown merchants in the spirit of making scarecrows that represent their business.
As of the second week of October, roughly 30 scarecrows could be seen along the stretch of Big Basin Way, but Perusa indicated there could be more on the way.
The rules of the contest are simple: Scarecrows should be homemade if possible; once completed, they are to be displayed in front of the business they are representing; there’s no deadline for participation and the scarecrows can stay up well into November.
While creating scarecrow can seem intimidating, they aren’t very difficult to make, Perusa said. She created one that sits in the planter box in front of the Chamber of Commerce out of wood, plastic bags, newspapers, a styrofoam wig stand, T-shirt, Halloween mask, pair of pants, pins, ribbons and raffia.
“We really emphasize homemade because they have such personality and such character,” she said. “With the Internet, people can find different ways to make a scarecrow.”
She added, “In my opinion there’s no wrong way to make a scarecrow because a scarecrow is not supposed to be perfect.”
Merchants and individuals that are interested in participating are encouraged to contact Warwick at 408.872.1032.
Link: Nothing scary about these Saratoga scarecrows, they’re just fun
