Well, if you've been up to Buchanan, especially in the fall time, you may have seen a few scarecrows around.

And today I get to finally be here in the Scarecrow charities and my new friends Claire and Betsy.

Thank you, ladies so much for joining me today.

I'm excited to actually be in the space where the magic all starts.

This is a pretty cool space in here.

Yes it is.

And you guys have been doing this for almost 20 years now, but in this space, only a couple years.

But this is where the creativity flows, if you will.

Right.

All right.

So tell me how we get started with the entire organization.

Because you guys have been doing this a while.

Yes.

We start at this end of the building with a scarecrow frame, which is a the.

Well, let's go check it out.

Okay, let's go check it out.

And tell me the purpose behind why you guys do this.

We do this as a fundraiser for Buchanan.

Okay.

Yep.

And which is why you were going to see him here in Buchanan.

But anybody can participate in it.

Yes.

Right.

Yeah.

Okay.

The businesses sponsor a scarecrow.

The funds we raise the the business can be anywhere.

Okay.

The scarecrow must be in Buchanan, and the funds we raise are spent in Buchanan.

So that money is staying locally.

I love that, and I know you guys get a lot of things donated, but there's also a lot of expenses that go into making this whole process.

Yes.

Can I pull this out?

Yeah, sure.

Okay.

So this is an actual scarecrow.

We're getting ready to start one, right?

Yes.

I love this.

This is the beginning process of it.

Yes.

Okay.

And then we're going to go to the scarecrow hospital.

Well, this is a scarecrow hospital.

Okay.

And this area is where they'll stuff them.

And then, after they're done stuffing, we'll go over to the embellishing area and we'll bring them to life for you.

I love it.

Now, I know you guys support a lot of organizations here, right?

Yes.

Okay.

This is kind of the stuffing zone.

We're not going to stuff today.

All right, we know one of us are stuffers, but we'd like to try.

Go ahead.

Is there is there a sign that you have here?

Well, it's not an assignment.

It's the finest they know.

You have a job.

You know what your job is?

That job.

People prefer to stuff.

Okay.

And some people prefer to embellish.

Okay.

Betsy and I prefer to embellish.

Embellish?

Now, you have a lot of volunteers who help with this, too.

Yes we do.

Okay.

How many volunteers do you have?

There are 38.

Okay.

Official.

Not everybody comes every week.

Okay.

So you kind of have a time where time frame where people can come in and and work together.

Right.

Yeah.

Every Tuesday we meet from 9 to 1 or so, and then we'll stay later.

And, you know, finish them up.

So I love that.

And you are always looking for more volunteers.

Always.

Yes.

You you could be stuffer more embellished.

Right?

Exactly.

And, if, if you can't come on Tuesday, we do have jobs that can be done at home.

Okay.

Okay.

Well, let's take a walk.

Okay.

And I want to hear a little bit more, too, because I know you mentioned that these are all over Buchanan.

How do you decide where they're going to be put out?

I go through town.

Okay.

And I count every single light pole and utility pole.

They all kind of sturdy to put them.

Yes.

Okay.

Yeah.

They, you know, in a certain pattern.

Okay.

We try to keep them downtown.

Yeah.

And on the main front street, that runs from one end to the other.

Is there, like, a scavenger hunt checklist where I could go through and make sure I actually all of them, actually, there is.

Okay.

Right.

The library has a scavenger hunt with the map and yeah, you can go there and get one.

And and I do have a card that shows where most of the scarecrows are displayed.

I like it.

Now each scarecrow comes with a pumpkin and so on.

The pumpkin is the name of the business.

Oh, great.

Yes, you can see who sponsored and who sponsored it.

Okay.

So.

And most of them like them in front of their shops or stores or whatever, but a lot like to be put out a little because, you know, they want people to see them other than the ones right in town where they already are.

Yeah.

So, so.

And we get lots of sponsors from like, vaguely Landscape to Niles Brown Funeral Home.

I mean, there's a there's a new one who is an Airbnb.

Yeah.

And he wants to be as far out on Front Street because it's hunt for him on the east end of town or west, and I can't I missed my directions are bad, but he wanted to be as far at the end as he could be.

Okay.

Okay.

So now we're moving into the next section here.

So we're going to load them up here.

That's right.

Okay.

And then what happens.

Well the embellishes there's four of us that embellish all these.

We will come over to the rack, and we will pick out a scarecrow that we like, and we see something in a feel.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You look at the face and.

Yeah.

You know, like this one looks definitely like a boy to me.

Okay.

So, you know, I would leave him for Clare because I don't like to do the boys.

She likes the boys.

I like the girls.

Looks like the girls.

Do you each.

Do you have only sons?

Yeah.

That's true.

But that's not why I only do this.

All right.

Let's keep going.

So this looks like a girl to me.

And I would pick her up and I would bring her over to my table.

Okay.

And stand her in.

So this is kind of like the next section.

The next section.

Okay.

Each of us has their own area.

So after we bring them over to here, we're going to just look at the clothes rack and look at all the purses and see what I could put on her to make her beautiful.

So you don't necessarily always have an idea going into it.

It's more of a ceiling.

Yes.

It's how the scarecrow looks.

And like I said, it looks they look different.

You know, they're all painted the same, but they look different when you get them.

There.

Stand.

Their eyes Go one way.

They're different colored eyes.

Who's doing the the painting of them?

We all do the painting of them, you know.

So that's another whole separate job somebody could do is paint faces.

Okay.

Are year round business at this point?

Right.

Yes.

Yes.

You can't you can't produce as many detailed scarecrows as we do without, spending time.

You know, take.

It takes a lot of time.

Yes.

And then they need to be finished by the end of March.

April?

Oh.

So that the salespeople can go out and sell them.

Okay.

They're not all finished at that time.

But the first hundred.

The first hundred we like to get in the books.

How many do you guys do each year?

We do over 200.

Over 200.

Oh my gosh.

Goal is somewhere between 200 or 230 and 240.

Okay.

And right now, they're all out already there.

You can see.

Then you can get your scavenger hunt.

All right.

Now, I know you guys have plenty of things here to decorate with.

And you even have some more fun things here, too.

But I love that you have stuffed animals.

You have hats.

You have?

I mean, you could even put jewelry on them.

I said, oh, yeah.

Yeah.

We have a whole a whole section of jewelry.

I love it, I love it.

Okay, let's check out these real quick because these are unique.

This isn't necessarily for fall.

You're getting ready for winter.

That's right.

Okay, tell me about these real quick.

This is our winter display.

We just like to put up for the town.

Okay, the kids are having a snowball fight against the gnomes here.

We have sleds that go out with them and, fences and.

And they're all throwing snowballs at each other?

Yes.

So it's really fun.

What they're working on right now are carolers, and they go, we have a little gazebo.

This the snow people go on the ground in front.

The carolers go in the gazebo with the Christmas tree.

Okay.

The garden club puts up a Christmas tree and we put up.

Carol.

You guys are so well connected with all of the organizations here in the community.

And I know that you work really hard to give back to them as well to.

So any donations that people can provide to you, that's always helpful.

Oh yes.

And I know that a lot goes into this.

This really is a labor of love.

Yes it is.

Right.

Yes.

Yeah.

All right.

Well, thank you for showing me around.

Now I know where the scarecrows are built when I drive through Buchanan.

And I love that you guys have a scavenger hunt, too, so I can maybe do some hunting for them.

Yes.

Yes, yes.

Okay.

All right, well, thank you ladies so much.

You're welcome.

We enjoyed it.

Yes.