Botanical Garden’s ‘scarecrows’ are stuffed with silliness
EVENT PREVIEW
Scarecrows in the Garden
Through Oct. 31. 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays (until 10 p.m. Thursdays). $18.95; $12.95, ages 3-12; free, younger than 3. 1345 Piedmont Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 404-876-5859, www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org.
Related activities
Fest-of-Ale: 5-10 p.m. Thursdays. Enjoy specialty brews and bluegrass music.
Children’s Fall Crafts: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. weekends.
Arts & Ales: 5-10 p.m. Oct. 17. A fall artists’ market, plus brews.
Great Chefs Pumpkin Carving Contest: 7 p.m. Oct. 24. Who will carve the most ghoulish gourd?
Goblins in the Garden: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Oct. 27. Kids can wear costumes to enjoy pony rides, tricks, treats and other Halloween diversions.
Native Americans are said to have created the first scarecrows on these shores to protect their corn crops from the scavenging black birds.
There is no corn to be protected at the Atlanta Botanical Garden this fall, but its annual Scarecrows in the Garden exhibition boasts a bumper crop of corniness — and cleverness, too.
As usual, Atlanta schools, businesses, nonprofits, families and individuals have found the figures to be suitable vessels for their fertile artistic imaginations. Among the 131 scarecrows dotting the winding paths around and through the Southern Seasons and Children’s gardens, we noted …
- It's funny how we're so punny: We ran into the painter Claude Cronet, the blind keyboard player Scary Wonder, Esmeralda the Fairy Goth Mother (created by the Atlanta Goth Culture Club, evidence that there's a club for everything), The Crowbar (slogan: "Ravenously Good Coffee!") and Crow With the Flow (a Nantahala Outdoor Center kayaker).
- We love our pop culture idols: You'll meet Scary Skippyjon Jones, a Johnny Depp-ish Captain Jack Scarecrow, the Royal Hay-be (hay-stuffed versions of Prince George and mom Kate and dad William), E.T. peeking out of a bicycle basket, Edvard Munch and his "Scream" and not only Scarlett O'Scara but also Scare-O-Lott O'Hara.
- We campaign for causes: Bright marketers have used scarecrows to campaign for the eradication of TB, to encourage breast self-examination ("Bee sure to check your Boo-Bee's" suggests a sign hoisted by a bee-crow), to oppose medical waste and to encourage treatment of "Arthur-itis."
- We're green as all get-out: There are scarecrows made of wine corks, soldered auto parts, even a persuasive Purple People Eater from purple milk jugs.
