Scarecrow Town Wednesday November 19, 2008

Wednesday morning we had a leisure breakfast with Bud & Amy and loaded the car for the short trip to Greenville SC. Crisp fall was in the air and traffic was obedient on all roads. We elected to follow Garmily and traveled merrily along country roads to hook up with I-85. Suddenly I spied a row of scarecrows lining a fence watching a scarecrow (or dummy I thought at first until I saw a Got Scarecrows sign) football game complete with referees, cheerleaders and spectators in a small stand. We were intrigued. Donny stopped while I snapped pictures noticing that each scarecrow had a tag with Guiness World record and a number.

Back on the road we we pondered the set up. Probably a football game inspiration we reasoned. A few miles down the road we entered a small rural town to find MORE scarecrows. In every direction. One riding a scarecrow horse, mechanics working on a car, an angel choir, a gingerbread family. We took more pictures and finally moved on.

I googled scarecrows and got the answer. The small town of Hoschton, Georgia population 1,700 decided to enter the Guiness Book of World Records for the most scarecrows in one location for their fall festival in September. These were some of the still standing entries. The town made 5,441 scarecrows trying to beat Cincinnati's record of 3,331. No word yet on whether they won. But I read that it did not pay to try and thwart the project. Vandals that were caught knocking down scarecrows (one rule was that each scarecrow must be standing) were sentenced to make 25 scarecrows.

When we got to Grandma's and told Beth about this, she was ready then and there to go see for herself. They really are something if you happen to be in the area.

We had a nice visit with Mom and then headed to Raleigh where AJB waited with dinner. SSE came over but Edward needed to go home before we got there.

Benjamin was still up and greeted us with his ever present smiles!