Over 100 Of The Most Creative Scarecrows You Have Ever Seen!

(Pssst..Not into reading? If you want to skip the story and just see the scarecrow photos, just click here)

Earlier this month, a project I was working on with Ford Canada took us to Nova Scotia, Canada for the very first time.

Simply put, we fell madly in love with it.

Truly. Madly. Deeply.

It's a real life fairy tale complete with our own happy-ever-after.

Favorite Brothers Grimm Tales // 2016 Mahone Bay Scarecrow Festival // Nova Scotia, Canada //© Christy Hydeck

Like most things worth loving, it didn’t come easily. The trip itself had started out just a bit rocky - the old adage that the only thing certain about travel is that something will go wrong - held so very, very true in our case. I won’t bore you with the details, as you can most likely imagine they involved canceled flights, camera failure and other issues that fall in that dreaded old “why me?” category. We try and take those things with a grain of salt though - most days anyway.

So... it’s not even a day into our trip, we had about 3 hours of sleep and woke up to a gloomy, windy and rainy day. Knowing we had just one chance to visit a few of the towns we wanted to see, we chose to not let the less than ideal weather stop us! We decided to venture down to Mahone Bay as our first stop. I had read about the Three Churches and was looking forward to capturing them with my camera, but the weather and my lower back decided not to play nicely as I tried to shoot. At some point we gave up and ventured into the town to check it out.

Creepy Clowns! // 2016 Mahone Bay Scarecrow Festival // Nova Scotia, Canada //© Christy Hydeck — Creepy Clowns! // 2016 Mahone Bay Scarecrow Festival // Nova Scotia, Canada //*© Christy Hydeck*

Maybe it's just me, maybe I was already a tad underslept and grumpy, but gloomy weather + clowns tied to a bridge give me a bad case of the willies. Which, as it so happens was our first impression as we crossed over that bridge, yes, complete with clowns strapped to it.. into the town. My inner scaredy cat could only think nonsense like "oh no! pleeeease don’t let this town be something like out of a bad, b-rated horror movie. pleeease don't let them abduct us and turn us into creatures tied to a bridge for eternity "..see, nonsense. In my defense this took place right around the time the news was harping on the ‘scary clown epidemic’ plaguing North America.

Equal parts spooked + curious, we proceeded anyway.

As we drove through the town - the homespun charm quickly became apparent. Colorful buildings and quaint locally owned businesses lined the streets. Smiling, friendly faces walking by, beautiful bay views and so much more contributed to the small town charm Mahone Bay has.

However, we were hoping to make sunset in Lunnenburg. So we passed through Mahone Bay the first time without stopping. Big, mistake. Once we got to Lunnenburg and realized we couldn’t quickly find the spot we wanted for sunset photos, (not to mention the clouds weren’t showing any signs of clearing)... we listened to our inner rumblings and realized Mahone Bay was beckoning us and without a second thought we promptly made our way back.

Oh My Cod! // 2016 Mahone Bay Scarecrow Festival // Nova Scotia, Canada //© Christy Hydeck

This time, we wisely parked the car, grabbed a bite to eat (at what just may be the best named restaurant ever - Oh My Cod!) then spent some time walking the Main Street area. We soon realized that the town had recently celebrated it’s 20th Scarecrow Festival - and man, were we ever enchanted.

Armed with only my iPhone camera, the hubby and I walked around in the rain quickly snapping shots, laughing and enjoying the 100+ creative scarecrows. Personally, I felt like I was transported into a favorite book (like the Mitford Series) or right into one of Stars Hollow's (The Gilmore Girls fictional town) quirky and fun events. Much to my surprise + delight, Carl was actually smitten with them too and was equally in awe of how much work and artistry went into each of these scarecrows.

2016 Mahone Bay Scarecrow Festival // Nova Scotia, Canada //© Christy Hydeck

As you can see in the photos above, there were SO many incredible scarecrows.

Allow me to indulge my inner Forrest Gump for a moment:

There's Mermaid Scarecrows, Angry Birds Scarecrows, Musician Scarecrows, Alice in Wonderland Scarecrows, Scarecrows that matched the store services, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Scarecrows, Photographer Scarecrows, Bed + Breakfast Scarecrows, Quilter Scarecrows, Pirate Scarecrows, Chef Scarecrows, Frozen Scarecrows, Michael Jackson Scarecrows, Wedding Scarecrows - the list just goes on, and on, and on...

In hindsight, I wish I had used my real camera and approached photographing these like I usually do -as these pics don't do the town justice. The best camera is the one that is with you though, and even though these aren't my best work - creativity that inspires like this - simply must be shared. We left Mahone Bay with big smiles and lightened moods. We talked about it for days - the town left quite an impression on each of us - and changed our moods for the better.

Spa Day! // 2016 Mahone Bay Scarecrow Festival // Nova Scotia, Canada //© Christy Hydeck

Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame // 2016 Mahone Bay Scarecrow Festival // Nova Scotia, Canada //© Christy Hydeck

I want to move there.

To open a store.

To create scarecrows every year.

To make things and be surrounded by charm and beauty.

Mahone Bay has something pretty fabulous going on - you really must go visit it - especially when the Scarecrows make their yearly appearance.

Which was my favorite you ask?

It was hard to choose...

But this display...

The photographer...

Photographer + Witches Full Moon // 2016 Mahone Bay Scarecrow Festival // Nova Scotia, Canada //© Christy Hydeck

Just had to be the one with my name on it.

Always,
Chrysti

P.S. Clicking on any of the images in this post will take you to the photo album where I house ALL the individual images for you to see larger + peruse. Or just click here.