Scarecrows are getting comfortable in Edmonds this month. Spurred on by the Historical Society’s promise of a competition,  homes and businesses are building straw men and women — all part of the Edmonds Historical Society’s efforts to celebrate its 40th anniversary and start a new Scarecrow Festival tradition.

Not all of the scarecrows are doing their traditional job of scaring crows —like at the Edmonds Bookshop, where a scarecrow is reading and sharing apples with the pests; or outside Arista Wine Cellars, where another dizzy scarecrow is enjoying a glass of fine wine. Check out some pictures below for inspiration, and get your yard or storefront ready for competition!

With the crows taken care of, writers from all over the Puget Sound area will flock to Edmonds this weekend for the 28th Annual Write on the Sound Writers’ Conference (WOTS). For three days, 275 writers will hone their craft, consulting with professionals for manuscript critiques, style workshops, and marketing and publication advice. Keynote speaker Benjamin Percy will lecture Saturday afternoon. Percy will also give a free workshop to high school and college students Friday afternoon in the library conference room.

Conference tickets are sold out, and nearly every workshop is filled, but there are a couple of events open to the general public:

– Friday evening at 7, the Edmonds Library presents “Pulling Weeds, Reading Books and Library Memories: An Evening with Author Robert Dugoni” on the main floor of the library. Dugoni will speak and read from his latest procedural mystery “The Conviction,” in which a lawyer fights a conviction against his own son. Edmonds Bookshop will sell copies of Dugoni’s book at the event, as well as in the book room downstairs in the Frances Anderson Center throughout the weekend.

– Sunday afternoon during the conference lunch break from 12:45-1:15 p.m., artist Judith Larsen will give a brief presentation of her show “Frontline Heroines: A Tribute to the Heroines of Journalism,” which has been in the Art Festival Foundation Museum since Sept. 18. Even if you can’t make the presentation, stop by the Frances Anderson Center to take in Larsen’s emotional portraits of female war correspondents killed on assignment before her show closes on Oct. 29. With all these creative minds in town, it will be a good weekend to strike up a conversation with a stranger in a bar or coffee shop!

Gallery North features Urban Sketchers through October. These street artists live by their motto of “seeing the world one drawing at a time,” sketching local scenes that unfold in front of their eyes. The show is called “Think Locally, Sketch Globally” and includes sketches done on location in places all over the northwest, including Edmonds. The opening reception will be held this Sunday, October 6th, from 1-4 p.m. If you have not yet been by Gallery North’s new location at 4th & Main, be sure to stop in. The new open, well-lit space is a huge improvement over the old cramped gallery next to Starbucks. Artists will also be present in the gallery during the Third Thursday Art Walk, on the 17th of this month.

ECA’s auction was a huge success! While final figures have not yet been released to the press, word is that some of the larger items went for more than ever before, and that the takeaway for ECA looks to be a better haul than ever. Funding our arts center is a huge investment in our area, and residents of Edmonds and Woodway both pulled together to provide highly desirable auction items and packages. ECA is a valuable asset to our community, bringing big name performers and their fans to Edmonds, as well as supporting arts programs in local schools. Among the most fought-over items were:

– a six-course dinner prepared in the buyer’s home by Chef Tim Morris of e.pu.lo with wine selections by Alan Lawrence,

– a wine tasting for 8 in the private wine cellar of enthusiast Clay Siegall,

–  a private performance by international recording artist Enrique Henao

– a two-week Ireland adventure planned by travel agent Karen Duff-Jacobsen, with airfare provided by Benny Teal,

– a Pig’n’Paella dinner prepared by Strom Peterson of the Cheesemonger’s Table and ECA Board President David Brewster a.k.a the “Paella King” of Edmonds

– and the Patrons Instant Wine Cellar—a gigantic wine lot including donations of bottles from patrons’ wine cellars, as well as a selection from Arista Wine Cellars.

An open bar spurred the auction on late into the night, and chef Schubert Ho of Bar Dojo provided enough tasty morsels in addition to the pre-ordered dinners to keep those competitive spirits alive. The Capitol Steps open the 2013-14 season this weekend.

– By Juliet Brewster

Juliet Brewster

Artfully Edmonds columnist Juliet Brewster, an Edmonds native and Edmonds-Woodway High School graduate, has a degree in literature from Bennington College. To have your arts happening listed, email her at brewster.juliet@gmail.com.