Southern Oregon Historical Society - Scarecrow Festival

October 28th & 29th, 2023, 11am-3pm

The Scarecrow Festival at Hanley Farm is an annual tradition for so many families in the Rogue Valley, including us!   The first time we went was a couple of years ago.  We tackled building our scarecrow first;  it is so cool because they have all the supplies for you.  You get assigned to a table where you have the stick to build on and a pile of hay to work with and then you go and pick out your clothes and accessories.

When you are done with your scarecrow you can either take him home with you or you can enter it into the contest that we all get to vote on.  We opted to take ours home.  Next we headed on over to the pumpkin coloring area.  The kids chose whichever size pumpkin they wanted and then they were able to decorate the pumpkin how they wanted to.

Following the pumpkin painting we had the kids do the apple bobbing.  Don't worry there is not a huge petri dish bucket of water that all of the kids are dunking their faces into!  The volunteers use an apple corer and then they tie the apples to a string so that they are suspended in the air.  What a kick!  We could not stop laughing watching the kids trying to get a bite out of the apples.  It made me want to play at home because the kids sat there trying for at least 10 minutes and of course our two oldest made it into a competition to see who could get a bite first.  Really, really fun!

After apple bobbing we explored the farm a little and went and checked out the chicken coop, the peacock and some of the artifacts they have around.  We would really like to go back some time and tour the house and walk around the grounds a little because there is so much wonderful history to be taken in.

They do have food available so we took the opportunity to get the kids some hot dogs and my sister and I had the barbecue chicken sandwich with homemade coleslaw.  It was oh so yummy, I highly suggest the house made pickled cucumber and onions too!  You won't be disappointed.  One tip if you are trying to have fun on a budget, you can bring your own food, which is really nice.  Bring a blanket, sit under the trees and enjoy your lunch!

We finished our day with the hayride.  We took a bumpy road tour of the grounds, which added to the whole charm of it.  We had a wonderfully, sweet gentleman that filled us in on the history of the farm and grounds.

I do want to say all the volunteers were so helpful and nice.  They really are a great group of people always there to answer any questions or lend a helping hand.

All in all it was a wonderful way to spend a fall afternoon.  If you want to go they have it for two days.  Saturday & Sunday, October 28 & 29, 2023, 11am-3pm or more FALL FESTIVALS and EVENTS go HERE.

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