One of our most memorable discoveries during our Dartmouth, Nova Scotia housesit was the small town of Mahone Bay. We were unaware of it prior to our arrival in Lunenburg, but upon hearing glowing reports from other travellers we decided to take a look-see.
We're ever so glad we did and while we'd just missed the annual Scarecrow Festival, the town was still dolled up in all its autumn finery. Themes varied from celebrities to rock stars, movie stars, literary figures and everything in between.
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| Marilyn Monroe |
Add pumpkins and corn stalks to the mix and it was a visual delight!
Some shops, such as this Ladies Wear store took a more lavish approach to their scarecrows.
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| Hair Salon |
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| Spa treatment |
Others opted to focus on the town's heritage.
The colourful exteriors of the buildings only added to the experience.
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| My favourite! |
Being a coastal community, a number of shops focused on a nautical theme.
John particularly liked these sharks - or to be more precise the human foot lying on the plate before them. Yum!
Every square inch of the town was decorated for the festival, including the bridge that crossed the river.
Couples were represented throughout town.
Other scarecrows featured the nature of the owner's business, in this case a crane operator.
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This next scarecrow confused some visitors, but Canadians immediately recognized astronaut Chris Hatfield.
Pirates adorned the exterior of this seafood restaurant.
I did my best to coax John to stick his head through the board, but to no avail.
Needlework attracted many female visitors, myself included.
This display left no doubt one would find an artist's supply shop inside.
Literary figures included Anne of Green Gables.
While the movies were equally represented.
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Fairytale figures were also included.
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The vibrant colour of the bistro was as impressive as their scarecrow.
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Other scarecrows were more child-like as evident outside this ice cream parlour.
This candy shop was one of our favourites. Not only did it include large lollipops and Hansel and Gretel, but Little Red Riding Hood, the Wolf and three little pigs.
Mahone Bay has many festivals planned throughout the year and if the scarecrow festival is any indication of the time and effort put in to making this a special Nova Scotia destination we look forward to returning to take in more of the sights and sounds.
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