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Cody English, left, Sky Valley public works employee, and Sky Valley Mayor Robert MacNair reveal Sky Valley's Fall decorations at the entrance to the city. The city has 13 hay bales that were painted by English and they stay out through the month of October. -
Ella Fast, city manager of Sky Valley, sits on top of a bale of hay beside a giant Turkey created out of hay for Sky Valley's Fall decorations throughout the city.
SKY VALLEY— It’s officially Fall and that means decorations of pumpkins and scarecrows amidst leaves turning to orange and yellow on trees.
In Sky Valley, it marks the time to bring out the hay bales to decorate and display around the city.
The hay bales are stationed at different locations around Sky Valley and are decorated as pumpkins, witches and even a spider.
The tradition of the hay bales began with Joyce Horton in 1990, who was inspired by bales of hay in a hayfield in Pennsylvania.
The site was such a draw that she was asked by people if she would keep bringing out the hay bales each year.
“I went to see the president of the Garden Club and asked for help,” Horton said about getting funding for the hay bales in the future.
Horton said that she started out with three hay bales on the side of the road, and it expanded to 6-8 of them.
There are now 13 hay bales on display throughout the city and they were decorated by Cody English, public works employee.
“We’ve found an artist among our workers,” said Mayor Robert MacNair about English.
English said that it took him about two days to paint all of the hay bales and that it was his first year painting them.
Horton said that the public works department would help load the hay bales and take them to different destinations.
“The public works crew did an amazing job,” said Ella Fast, city manager, about their commitment to the job.
Horton said that in the past the Time Share Office has always provided the paint and been helpful. She said that the Sky Valley Garden Club made the street signs for the hay bales.
“It’s a major draw for us up here,” Fast said.
She said it is particularly a good promotional opportunity for Sky Valley’s Fall Festival, with this year marking their 6th year of the festival.
Horton said that she and the crew of women who organize the hay bales is self-named “Hay Bale Divas” and includes Joyce Horton, Rany Parrott, Sally Shearon, Connie Hughes, Wardine Dodson and Suzie Piontkowski.
Fast said that $4,000 from the city budget is used to fund the decorations now, coming out of the marketing and special events portion of the budget.
“We couldn’t have done it this year without Ella,” Horton said. “She’s fantastic.”