Residents may know her as a “Buchanan Scarecrow Lady,” but at the end of August Mary Fisher, co-founder to the Buchanan Scarecrow Charities, also became a published author.
Her book, which is available online for $17.25 and for $15 at the Buchanan Art’s Center is called “How to Make Your Own Scarecrows the Buchanan ‘Scarecrow Ladies’ Way.”
While Fisher said she started the book with the intent to make a how-to on scarecrow creation, after five years of putting the information together, the book became a way to commemorate the Buchanan Scarecrow Charities and the fun and creative characters they created in scarecrow form.
“I decided to make it not only a how-to, but how the Buchanan scarecrow ladies do it and in a way it is a tribute to them,” Fisher said. “It’s sort of a history of our scarecrows.”
Between the 86 pages of pictures, how-to instructions and hand drawn illustrations is a story of a charity that has garnered $45,000 for the community over nine years, while building a group of volunteers dedicated to making not only creative, but also lively scarecrows.
“I’m really happy with it,” Fisher said.
For Fisher who had started creating scarecrows to draw attention to the pumpkins she used to decorate and sell in South Bend, the charity was a way to merge a craft she loved and bring a little color to the streets of Buchanan, as well as raise money for many causes in the community.
The charity began with a partnership formed with Carole Hedstrom, who passed away in January 2016. Hedstrom and Fisher had originally started the project to raise money for the Buchanan Art Center, but soon they recognized a greater community need and became their own charity in 2013.
“Between me knowing the construction and her knowing (how to pose them) it was perfect,” she said.
It was Hedstrom, Fisher said, that helped bring the scarecrows to life with her idea to place the scarecrows around town. Hedstrom came up with the idea after she had visited a town in Canada where scarecrows were posed doing everyday tasks.
In her book, Fisher has a picture of that very first scarecrow they created, riding a bike down a street in Buchanan. Since those very first days, Fisher said she believes that her craft has improved and while each year the scarecrows become more intricate and detailed, still she thinks back to that first scarecrow and smiles.
“When we first started out it was plaid shirt, bib overalls, straw hat,” she said. “Now it could be anything. Each year I would improve upon my design and I would keep selling the scarecrows,” she said. “And I knew that people liked them. They really liked them.”
This year, the Buchanan Scarecrow Charities created more than 200 scarecrows, which sold at $50 a piece. The scarecrows that arrive each year around Labor Day have established a reputation in Buchanan.
“People come from all over,” she said. “A couple that we heard about will schedule their vacations around it.”
Each year’s batch offers new characters, including Muhammad Ali, the Beatles and Teddy Roosevelt this year.
So far, Fisher said she has sold a handful of copies, many to the Buchanan Scarecrow Charities crew, whom she hoped to recognize.
“They are very happy with it,” she said. “It is a tribute to them and their work. And they are an amazing group of women, just amazing.”