This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
10/10/2019 12:00 AMLike a dollop of whipped cream on a slice of pumpkin pie, this year, Branford Garden Club (BGC) has found a great way to top their annual "Scarecrows on the Green" opening weekend: with the added ingredient of the club's first annual Fall Pie Festival, coming to the Branford green for one day on Saturday, October 19.
BGC's Fall Pie Festival will take place Sat. Oct. 19 from 10 a.m. — 2 p.m. on the Branford green, when club members will be selling home-baked apple pies and other fruit-filled pies made from favorite recipes; together with pies baked by club members during a special pie-making workshop led by local celebrity chef and Branford cooking instructor Betty Ann Donegan. Pie festival sales proceeds will be used to underwrite some of the club's many town beautification projects.
The festival will take place amidst a newly-constructed crew of scarecrows built for BGC's ninth annual Scarecrows on the Green display, which opens on Friday, Oct. 18 and runs through Sunday, November 3. Each fall, BGC's Scarecrows on the Green brings scads of scarecrow displays to take over the Branford green. Each scarecrow is designed and set up by local groups, businesses and organizations. The scarecrows may be silent, but their signs and unique designs make them a great "spokescrow" for local businesses, clubs, schools, organizations, non-profits and even families or individuals. Strolling among the scarecrows has become a favorite fall activity for residents and visitors, who flock to the town center to inspect creations set up in prime locations on the green between Main Street and Town Hall Drive.
Scarecrow appreciators can also assist BGC programs and efforts by dropping a donation in collection baskets manned by BGC members on the green during the display period. Proceeds from donations will be used to underwrite BGC's beautification projects.
Opening weekend of Scarecrows on the Green will no doubt be a busy time for club members, in more ways than one. On Friday, Oct. 18, in honor of Branford's 375th birthday and the newly completed Branford Community House project, BGC members will plant 375 daffodil bulbs in the new gardens around the Community House at 46 Church St. According information shared by BGC, the Community House has been home to the all-volunteer garden club for many years, and will continue to provide space in the new building for monthly BGC meetings.
Over the years, BGC has planted thousands of daffodil bulbs throughout town, from Branford Point to points all along Main Street and beyond, creating rafts of yellow blooms come spring. BGC members also plant and maintain Main Street's lamppost baskets, the Veterans Memorial Garden (at town green flagpole) and Mae McCabe Memorial Day Lilly Garden on the green. At Branford Historical Society's Harrison House museum, BGC maintains the site's Alta Newton Memorial Herb Garden and border garden.
BGC also supplies Christmas decorating for Branford's public libraries and the Ronald McDonald House in New Haven. In addition, club was instrumental in developing Branford's Rosenthal Gardens (Kirkham Street) and Community Dining Room (CDR) garden (Harrison Avenue). BGC also provides weekly table flower arrangements at CDR. For more information on BGC programs, activities and undertakings, visit www.branfordgardenclub.org