Crowds flock to Scarecrow Weekend in St. Charles

For South Elgin resident Lauren Budny and her daughters, seeing the scarecrows on display in downtown St. Charles is a tradition.

And the cool temperatures Oct. 8 didn’t keep them away.

“It’s always fun,” said Budny, who previously had lived in St. Charles. “The girls love it and they wanted to come down, no matter what. It gets us all set for the Halloween spirit.”

Budny was taking a liking to a display on Riverside Avenue featuring painter Leonardo da Vinci and Mona Lisa. The three-day St. Charles Scarecrow Weekend, previously called St. Charles Scarecrow Festival, wrapped up Oct. 9.

This was the 37th year of the festival that is organized by the St. Charles Business Alliance and its Events Committee.

Budny attended the festival with her 7-year-old and 9-year-old daughters and two of their friends.

Helping entertain the crowds at Scarecrow Weekend with his magic was St. Charles resident Scott Piner. Along with performing a magic show, he roamed around the park performing magic tricks for groups of people.

Piner enjoyed both formats.

“I like the stage show because you get to really interact with everybody and make it very interactive and just seeing everybody laugh and have a good time,” he said. “And the closeup stuff is fun because you get to interact with them on a more personal level.”

He loves being able to perform in the fall.

“It’s such a beautiful time,” Piner said. “I love this event. When we first moved here, this was one of those events that you would come to and you would walk around with your family. Now I am here performing for other families.”

Also entertaining the crowds Oct. 8 at Lincoln Park were students from the School of Rock in Geneva. Singer Peter D’Antonio of Elgin, a senior at Burlington Central High School, liked connecting with the audience.

“Every time you perform, you are putting yourself out there, putting your image out there and trying to entertain people,” he said. “That’s the whole point of being a frontman. As a frontman, you’re the one that connects the audience to the rest of the band. It’s fun for us.”