Saturday's Fall Fest hosts scarecrows and coffins

East Fork Gallery’s annual Scarecrow Festival, held for over 35 years in the Carson Valley, will be 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 5 as part of Main Street Gardnerville’s Fall Fest in Heritage Park.

Main Street Gardnerville hosts the Fall Festival Slaughterhouse Lane Coffin Races during the day. Monique De Haviland is organizing the lineup of music by local musicians.

Main Street Director Jen Tune said there will be 60 art and craft vendors and a food truck alley.

“We expect to see some of our longtime fan-favorite Coffin Teams and new Coffin Teams at this year’s event,” Tune said. “The excitement continues to grow yearly, and we are thrilled to see how this will play out on Slaughterhouse Lane.”

Local performance groups, Dance Workshop, All About Dance, Northwest Martial Arts, and CBP Aerial Arts will are performing at the event.

“The Scarecrow Festival is a favorite Carson Valley happening, often attended by repeat customers and generations, regularly attracting adults, who participated as children, now bringing their children and grandchildren,” according to the artists.

The Record-Courier has donated newspapers to provide the scarecrows’ guts and the artists have been gathering used clothes to dress them.

Facepainting will also be going on in the Gallery’s Scarecrow area. Regardless of one’s traditions, it is a most enjoyable event. The artists at the East Fork Gallery, now celebrating their 45th year in Gardnerville, collect used clothing and create “kits” for participants to purchase, where they create full sized scarecrows that are displayed in front of homes and businesses across the valley in the autumn.

The artists from the East Fork Gallery will be available to help participants build their scarecrows. Ready-made scarecrows will be offered for purchase and a new feature are Scarecrow kits in a bag, for sale at the gallery 1512 Highway 395, Suite 4, and also on Oct. 5 in Heritage Park.