This morning I drove to Stanford for their annual Scarecrow Festival. I had never been to it before so I didn’t know what to expect. As I turned into town from US Hwy 87 I saw that even their “Welcome to Stanford” sign was decorated for fall.
Stanford is a small Montana town, about 400 people. Area ranches dot the landscape in what is known as the Judith Basin. The most prominent feature in the landscape is Square Butte which looks like a single mountain with the peak removed.
Stanford was definitely looking colorful on this October day. Yellow flowers lined the entire walkway to the Judith Basin courthouse and there were beautiful flowers all down Main Street. It was chilly and there had already been frost but most of the flowers were hardy and still beautiful.
The courthouse had several scarecrow displays. One depicted the sheriff and the other was dubbed Police Academy 101. Even local law enforcement was involved in the Scarecrow Festival!
My next stop was the Basin Trading Post. I refer to this as Stanford’s mall because several stores operate inside. The Deli was closed but the Prairie Collection, a delightful gift shop was open, also the hardware store.
There is a huge stuffed white wolf displayed in the center of the building, along with many historic black and white photos. The wolf was a big threat to area livestock and caused considerable losses.
Stanford’s school team is named the Wolves and the restaurant across the street is the Wolves’ Den so wolves left a lasting impression on this community.
There were scarecrow displays on both sides of the street…keep watching for photos of all of them!