Pike Oktoberfest
Can you hear that? That’s the sound of travelers who zip by in seconds. Would you like to do something that would be good for Pike County, and for your neighbors and friends? You can. Would you like to show Middle Georgia why Pike County is such a good place to live, work, and play? You can. Would you like to have some fun while you are doing it? You can. Last year, the Downtown Development Authority held a Piketoberfest, and displayed “scarecrows” outside of several businesses in Zebulon. It would be great this year if we could make this a county-wide effort and leave the scarecrows up for several weeks so that visitors and family could come in and see them, and appreciate the good times and good things that happen in Pike County. Fall starts September 22nd. Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 22nd. Why not put up a scarecrow in front of your house or business, in all the cities and throughout Pike County, from Friday, September 21st, at the beginning of Fall, until Sunday, November 25th, through the Thanksgiving weekend for family visits. This is a long period, but it will allow visitors to come and send their friends and family, over several weekends, and see all of the scarecrows on display. This will allow plenty of time to get the word out to your neighbors, and then lots of people can come to Pike County to see what is “Just Down The Road A Piece”. We can develop a list of the scarecrows and where they are located, with a street address so that visitors can easily find all of them. We can update this list and send it out to all of the City Halls and the Library so they can have a copy for visitors to pick up and search out through the countryside on their GPS and Chamber Pike County maps. You will find that lots of folks will stop to take pictures, especially if they can get in the photo with the scarecrow. This is good for Pike County businesses because they will get out of their cars and maybe take a step into our stores and businesses to see what else we have and spend a few dollars while they are here. It will make a great write-up for the newspapers in our area, and it will give you something to send to Aunt Martha and Cousin Jim to encourage them to come and visit. And you could get a photo of Nana standing beside the “Pretty Boy” or “Six Babies”. The scarecrows should be full-sized and home-made, so that we can show off our creativeness – happy, scary, sitting, standing, whatever you can do to make them look special. Pick a theme for your scarecrow, pick a name, categorize it (in case we decide to recognize one out of each category). Use this e-mail address, and send me the name of your scarecrow, a category grouping (such as religious, military, old time, etc.), your address for our list, and maybe a picture if you can, so that we can develop a photo album. A phone number would help just in case we have trouble locating your scarecrow for a photo (We will not give out your name or phone number on the list). As noted, we will share this with the media, and whoever asks. The scarecrows and visitor comments? Twitter will be “Tweeting”, and “Facebook” will be full of our faces, and the scarecrows will be in your “e-mails to family and friends”, and everyone will enjoy the good times in Pike County. They will be seeing our scarecrows in Atlanta, Athens, Augusta, Savannah, Mobile, and so on; and thinking about what they are missing out on by not visiting or living here. What will it cost you? Maybe a couple of dollars for something to stuff your old clothes with (safety pins if you can’t sew). You can find the materials at the local thrift stores (good pricing, buying local, and helping people in need in the community). That’s cheap considering what a great time you and your neighbors will have “showing off” your scarecrows. Don’t let your neighbor out-do you. Don’t forget to let the kids help; they may have better ideas than us old folks, and they will get a memory of Family Time that you can’t buy with money. This could be one more step into art shows and events for Pike County, showing what we can do, and what we are doing. We could have 100 to 200 scarecrows up during this Oktoberfest in Pike County. Good Luck.
