Following a break of five years, Baildon Scarecrow Festival is back! This ever popular community event was hosted for many years by the wonderful team behind Baildon In Bloom, who keep ‘the village’ so beautiful with all the gorgeous seasonal planters and beds of flowers and foliage. Busy as they are though, they have now decided it’s time to pass the mantle on to a new team of organisers, and Baildon Belles WI are excited to be adding it to our fundraising programme.
Baildon Scarecrow Festival returns on Saturday 30th September 2023!
Head to the stocks area, in front of the temporary library for trail sheets!
Suggested donation: £5 for families, £2 for individual trail sheets.
As ever, the event will call on support from across our active and passionate community to make it a success, and we know we can count on Baildon to get behind us! We need local businesses, community groups, schools, faith groups, and individuals to create their own scarecrows to add to the trail… the more we have the more fun the event will be. We have chosen (for reasons we hope are obvious!) a theme of ‘All things Royal’ for this year, which we invite you to interpret as you wish. Just have fun and get creative!
The event promises to be a great day out for the whole community, who can enjoy seeing their own scarecrows as well as those of their friends and other locals. There will also be refreshments available at some venues and plenty of local businesses, as well as entertainment from the fabulous Baildon Ukulele Club. The scarecrows will be staged in several spaces around the centre of Baildon, such as the community garden and church yards, with a trail sheet sold on the day so that the public can make their way around and find each scarecrow. Everyone will be invited to enter our selfie competition by taking a photo of themselves with their favourite scarecrow, then sharing it on social media with a hashtag to be announced nearer the time, with a prize for the best picture!
Of course, in addition to hosting a day of fun for our community (and visitors from beyond) to enjoy, we are hoping to raise funds for our current charity, Zarach. We’ve been working with this Yorkshire based charity since April 2022 and have been heartened by all the local support we’ve been able to garner for them. Zarach aim to provide ‘a bed for every head’ and work tirelessly for children living in poverty to help give them basics such as breakfast, pyjamas, and something to sleep on, so that they’re able to live a more healthy life and make the most of their education. We’re inviting everyone who enters a scarecrow into the festival to make a donation of as much as they can afford, with the total made by the event (after a few minimal costs) going to Zarach.
In return, we’re offering the chance of glory! Every scarecrow entered into the festival will be judged by the visitors attending the event, who will have the opportunity to vote for their favourite. The three scarecrows with the most votes will each win a certificate and a prize. To enter, you’ll need to complete a Baildon Scarecrow Festival Entry Form, which you can download below (right click on the image), and includes bank details for you to make your donation by online transfer. You can also request a form by emailing us at scarecrowfestival@baildonbelles.co.uk, and return your form to the same email address.
This is sure to be the hottest competition this side of Bake Off, so get planning your right royal scarecrow now! Look out for more information here and over on our Facebook Page in the run up to the festival. We’d love you to ‘follow’ and ‘like’ us over on Facebook too, and help spread the word by sharing our posts. If you’re a local business and you’d like to help us out with a prize or support in any other way, please get in touch too (scarecrowfestival@baildonbelles.co.uk)!
We’re so grateful for all the offers of support we’ve already received, and look forward to seeing all your wonderful scarecrows and enjoying a successful festival with you!
The Baildon Scarecrow Festival Team x
