SLO County scarecrow festival kicks off on North Coast. ‘It’s really inspiring’
Hundreds of spooky, funny and artistic scarecrows are on display through the month of October in Cambria and San Simeon.
A stalwart crew of masked Cambria Scarecrow Festival volunteers have placed a couple hundred of the handmade sculptures in select areas, mostly along Cambria’s Main Street and Cambria Drive, and at the northeast end of Castillo Drive near Pico Avenue in San Simeon.
More scarecrow sculptures will probably go on display soon, according to Chris Fischer, chairwoman of the nonprofit Cambria Scarecrow Festival board of directors.
Individuals and businesses who found themselves strapped for time in September, she said, likely will put out their own scarecrow displays in the next week or so.
There were no deadlines to register the scarecrows for the 2021 festival, Fischer said, because the displays and individual sculptures won’t be judged.
That process, and the customary awards ceremony, were canceled this year as part of the festival’s coronavirus pandemic safety procedures.
“I think we have things really spread out well” to keep visitors and volunteers safe, Fischer said via phone. “I feel we did a really good job for social distancing.”
The Cambria Scarecrow Festival didn’t start officially until Oct. 1. Volunteers spent a lot of the prior week installing the artworks, which ranged in size from tiny to 14 feet across and 9 feet high.
Becky and Bruce De Lorme from upstate New York were visiting their pharmacist son in San Luis Obispo when they took a drive north on Highway 1 and saw some of the sculptures “on the side of the road. We had to pull over and take a look at it.”
Becky De Lorme described as the festival as “fascinating.” “So many of (the sculptures) are very lifelike and just fun,” she said.
Julia Schenck, who lives in Oakhurst and Morro Bay, drove up to Cambria specifically to get an advance peek at the festival.
“It’s so creative … magnificent,” Schenck said on Friday. “I don’t know who did all this work but they really put their heart and soul in it. It’s really inspiring.”
Where to find scarecrow displays
The large, themed exhibits span a wide variety of topics and themes, including fairytale characters and classic artworks.
Festival board president Paulla Ufferheide created a tribute to first responders on Cambria Drive, while Fischer helped make a massive pirate scene complete with a sinking ship and a kraken at the large empty lot next to the Old Cambria Marketplace/Shell Station.
Lesley Hochschild paid tribute to the animated movie “Coco” and the Mexican holiday Dia de Muertos, or, Day of the Dead, with installments at the Pinedorado Grounds in Cambria.
Other exhibits, their locations and their creator/coordinators are:
• Story Time, on the lot by San Simeon Beach Bar & Grill, Mary Nixo and Amy Marshall;
• Noah’s tiny ark with giant animals, mid-village on Main Street, Tigg Morales; and
• Art Movements Throughout History, Cambria Center for the Arts at the Old Grammar School.
All those creations will be celebrated at an outdoor Salute to Scarecrows event at the Cambria Pines Nursery on Oct. 30.
Tickets cost $40 and include music, a costume contest and tastings of restaurant food, wine, cider and beer. They are available at cambriascarecrows.com/events.
Cambria Scarecrow Festival visitors are asked to fill out surveys about their festival experiences and vote for their favorites at cambriascarecrows.com.
Learn more about the festival at the website and on the Cambria Scarecrows Facebook page.
