The Straw Sculptors

“My grandsons, Jack and Eli, live on our farm, where we host a corn maze and a pumpkin patch. On this day, I spotted them running with glee to the hay ride.

MARY JANE

McDONALD

Zanesville, Ohio

- Kathy Corgatelli Neville

A few years ago, Darla Hoff painted a pumpkin face onto a round straw bale to advertise her U-pick pumpkin patch at Al and Karen Goldman’s farm in Idaho Falls. While Darla has stopped growing pumpkins, the annual tradition of straw bale art lives on at the farm and has grown to involve friends and neighbors.

Once Darla comes up with an idea, the team goes to work. Past creations have included an owl, Minions, dueling tractors, Thomas the Tank Engine and a teddy bear.

The impressive public art has become quite an attraction. “People who drive by seem to get a kick out of it,” Al says. When Darla, her daughter Savannah, and Darla’s sister DeAnne Hoots painted Minion faces on three of the round straw bales, these bright yellow critters were the talk of the town. The Minion display was the site of a wedding proposal and children’s field trips, and it also lured many picture-takers and admirers.