Halloween was on my mind when I hustled up to Heritage Park the day after this event was held there.

Every year I think that it might be fun to attend, but I wanted to get a flavor for Fall and the harvest season at the Botanical Gardens as well, thus less people photobombing my flower shots is preferable … so, Sunday, the 4th it was. I always try to go before it rains and ruins any of the décor, but, wouldn’t you know, we had a light, unexpected drizzle on Sunday morning. I waited until almost noon to visit this venue, knowing the sun would not be my friend as I’d have to contend with a lot of shadows.

So, today’s post will feature the “spooky stuff” at the Gardens and next week’s post will be about my wonderful “Walktober” stroll throughout Heritage Park and that post will have more of a harvest theme.

In the patio area outside the Conservatory, I admired the different shades of orange, a late-blooming Hibiscus with a fun name (Hollywood Hibiscus® Disco Diva) that was paired with a beautiful pale-orange Chrysanthemum.

While I was watching these flowers, the other flowers were watching me, courtesy of the eyeballs lurking in/around the plant.

Actually, there was a whole lotta staring going on at the Gardens that day. 🙂

Since the event was entitled “Scarecrow Stroll” I hoped to see a variety of scarecrows and there were 20 on display this year. (There may have been more than 20 entries if people took their scarecrow home after the event.) Last year when I visited, there was an event at the Gardens that afternoon, so unfortunately most of the scarecrows were tucked away in an area so not to interfere with the festivities and/or pictures.

These were a few of my favorite scarecrow entries.

I Googled around to see if these two women owned a candy store, or perhaps were caterers – no luck finding out anything, so suffice it to say this pretty-in-pink, broad-shouldered chef is offering you a few treats.

There were several entries from local elementary schools and later when I went to the Taylor Conservatory and Botanical Gardens Facebook site, I saw the students had come away with some honors.

I’m not much of a sports fan, but even I knew this upside-down scarecrow represented when Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown did an upside-down headstand touchdown celebration during a game against the Green Bay Packers on November 3, 2024. Fellow Michigan blogger Ruth will get a kick out of this scarecrow – she loves the Lions.

This is another elementary school entry – I’ll bet these kids will do well in Biology when they get to the dissecting portions of their studies – eww!

These young students were all about the value of reading with this scarecrow and a message to lift your spirits by reading.

This “fireman” scarecrow was at the ready with all his/her gear.

These two scarecrows represented judges in the City of Taylor.

The first judge-sponsored entry was by Judge Brittany Johnson. This scarecrow is quite a looker with all the sparkles and satin, isn’t she?

The second judge-sponsored scarecrow is by Judge Victoria Shackelford. I love the Ruth Bader Ginsburg collar. This scarecrow was also the featured image, but I had to show you the entire scarecrow with its lovely backdrop of the Gardens and Conservatory area in this photo.

Hopefully the below pics of the Honey Baked Ham scarecrow doesn’t make you lose your appetite for a nice ham sandwich. Yikes!

DTE, our local energy provider, is one of the sponsors of the Scarecrow Stroll, so their entry was a DTE lineman, er … let’s call it a DTE worker with a lightbulb in his hand and lots of bright ideas.

Wright’s Landscape Services was another event sponsor. This company does a lot of the beautiful landscaping at the Gardens. Although the scarecrow’s face isn’t friendly, at least the bouquet at his feet makes him a more-likeable figure.

The Masco Pavilion is a covered area on the fringe of the Gardens. It was enlarged earlier this year and can now accommodate 110 seated guests. There are lots of events held here, weddings or gatherings related to the venue, like the “Music and Art in the Gardens” series every Wednesday all Summer.

Now it was time to wander down the Woodland Trail.

Would the 2026 visit be spooktacular like last year’s visit?

If the below entrance to the Woodland Trail looks familiar, it is because I did my 2025 “Walktober” here, (found here in case you missed it), as part of my walk-around at Heritage Park.

Once you pass under the arch, you step onto the trail – so what awaits us?

As a kid who grew up watching the cartoon “Casper the Friendly Ghost” and even donned a costume one year in his likeness, I’m pretty sure Casper never had a spider on his forehead – just sayin’.

There were plenty of witches, some pictured below …

… and a few ghosts that donned witchy-looking hats.

I hope the witches were cool with that copycat look. I suspect the ghosts snagged their hats from the line above our heads where many witch hats wiggled in the wind.

There were some colorful witch hats as well – hmm, I wonder why the ghosts didn’t wear them? It’s not as if they would clash with white!

Of course, Halloween is dandy due to the candy and this year there was something new on the Woodland Trail. Huge suckers in different “flavors” appeared everywhere and they even had festive ribbons on each one.

Here are a couple of them.

This stroll wasn’t just about ghosts and witches – there was some spooky stuff as well.

I hesitated to look up as I passed these fellows.

Make no bones about it, this guy towered way over me! Judging from the smirk on his face, I’ll bet he’s the one plucking the witch hats from the wire!

All too quickly the spooky stroll was done and I was out in the daylight again, where I continued my walk, which you’ll read about next week.

Be sure to click here for your special e-card.

Terri’s Sunday Stills Photo Challenge this week is “Scary Animal of the Month” and, since I couldn’t find a scary live animal to share from this venue, I will participate in Terri’s Flower Hour instead. I’ll have another spooky post on Wednesday.