My Hometown
A fanciful festival to celebrate the fall harvest is set to mark its 20th anniversary this year
Imagine a small Ontario town overrun with hundreds of scarecrows hanging from lampposts, riding their bikes and playing hockey in the parks, crowding storefront windows, clowning around on the steps of the concert hall and loitering on street benches.
A stretch of the imagination? Not really. Welcome to my town, Meaford, on the shores of southern Georgian Bay, in Grey County, where each year in mid-september, a new score of scarecrows takes up residence in anticipation of the annual Scarecrow Invasion and Family Festival that takes place on the Friday before Thanksgiving. There are scarecrows of all types and sizes— clowns, athletes, musicians, celebrities— we’ve seen them all. Sassy souls that they are, they arrive early and stay late and create merriment wherever they go, well into October.
Before moving to Meaford, I’d heard about the scarecrows. My first summer here, I thought it would be a laugh to attend one of the summer scarecrow workshops, hoping to come away with one for my front lawn. The laugh was on me.
One scarecrow? People in Meaford make scarecrows by the hundreds. Beginning in May, classrooms of students, adults, moms, dads and tots gather during these workshops to build and dress hundreds of scarecrows, then tuck them away till mid-september, when volunteers cut cornstalks in a farmer’s field and deliver the scarecrows into town, where still more volunteers wheel them about in baby strollers, wagons and anything else with wheels, decorating lampposts and railings throughout downtown. There’s a
definite party feeling in the downtown core as business owners and their staff take time out to create their own scarecrow displays and local artists add finishing touches to theirs. Closer to home, cooking enthusiasts practice the art of baking apple pies in preparation for the family festival apple pie contest; children decorate their bikes; and people dress up like scarecrows, wandering about playing their kazoos, rehearsing for their big performance during the grand event—the Scarecrow Invasion Parade and Family Festival.
All it took was that first scarecrow I made and I was hooked! I’m proud to say that I am now one of hundreds of volunteers gearing up for the upcoming invasion, which will mark the event’s 20th anniversary. At the top of the list is a grand birthday bash, where I will get to meet some of the amazing volunteers who helped mould this annual event into the huge success it has become.
Meaford’s Scarecrow Invasion and Family Festival received the June Callwood Outstanding Achievement Award for Voluntarism in 2011 and was named one of Ontario’s Top 100 festivals and events in 2014 and 2015, for good reason. For almost 20 years now, it has drawn the community together, instilled spirit and pride, and gained recognition for our town, both regionally and nationally.
Meaford is at the heart of the apple industry, and September is harvest time— a perfect occasion to celebrate. Come join us—and our scarecrows, of course! ■
For more information on the Scarecrow Invasion and Family Festival and other fall celebrations in the municipality of Meaford, visit scarecrowinvasion.ca or meaford.ca.