By Brady gibbons
In the October season the weather changes, the trees change color and people get a little more festive. For small town Benicia, there is a yearly tradition at their most popular attraction, First street.
The annual scarecrow competition, Business owners on first street will make a scarecrow of their choosing, it can be anything they want it to be from Batman, to Minions and even just normal creepy scarecrows. “I love seeing the scarecrows on first street every year.” said Madi Andrada
The contest started in 2008 as a way for shoppers to gain attraction from people to gain more business in the fall season. At every scarecrows base there is a table that has a QR code or an instruction on how to vote
The scarecrow with the most votes by October 23 wins the contest. There is first, second and third place and the business that wins gets posted on Benicia’s media accounts.
The most famous scarecrow was One House Bakeries “Pan Solo” a Hon Solo from star wars fully made out of bread.
Even actor Mark Hamill who plays Luke Skywalker in the famous franchise Star Wars posted on his instagram about “Pan Solo.”
Unfortunately this year there were not as many scarecrows as the previous years. I only counted 5-6. and online it seems that the popularity of the tradition is fizzling out. There’s many reasons it could be fizzling out, a young student said
“Maybe because first street only has boring insurance companies instead of fun touristy things” says Tyler James K.
Leaving people wondering “will the scare crow event come back to its formal glory?”
Benicia’s scarecrow event is a fun community driven event, it brings laughs and joy to passersby and brings out the competitive side in local businesses. Even if the event dies out. There will be great memories from a great small town event.
beniciapaw.com 