Autumn is in the air with the return of this Kelowna festival

The air has chilled, the days have shortened, and pumpkins have hit the shelves.

All sure signs of autumn and one local event helped the community usher in the season with spooky fun for the whole family.

The 12th annual Scarecrow Festival took place on Sunday as a way to build community and have fun with creativity.

“You get to make this little scarecrow person that you get to keep with you for the next month as we head into Halloween,” Christina Ferreira, owner of Impact Events told Kelowna10.

This is the first time Impact Events produced the event and Ferreira said they wanted to keep the traditional aspects of the event, but also build it up with more vendors and activities.

“We’ve gotten larger, more community involvement,” she said. “All the pieces are still there that’ve been through tradition, but now it’s just grown.”

Various artisans, food trucks, and other vendors filled Rutland Lions Park, as live music echoed about. Pumpkins and scarecrows were abound.

One of the main focuses of the event was building scarecrows, which were purchased on site with all the supplies provided by businesses in the community.

The Salvation Army and Kelowna & District S.H.A.R.E Society provided the clothing and a competition took place in the afternoon for those who wanted to enter their straw creations.

“It’s been so fun seeing the different ideas people are coming up with, the creativity they’re using,” Jennifer Anderson, executive assistant at S.H.A.R.E said.