Last year, Terry Dunlap found a new use for the Amish buggy he purchased in 2001.
The buggy, which the owner of Sam’s Pumpkin Patch used to showcase some of his pumpkins in prior years, became the ominous ride for the agriculture business’ scarecrow in the inaugural Fairfield County Trail of Scarecrows contest.
With help from local high school students, Dunlap used old clothes, a pitchfork, some good old-fashioned sewing and, of course, straw, to create a scary and ugly scarecrow. The task took about an hour.
“It’s scary alright. ... Scarecrows aren’t supposed to be pretty,” Dunlap says. “It’s ugly and fits in well with the theme of Halloween.”
Visit Fairfield County organized the contest last year with volunteer coordinators for each community and expects more participation this year.
“I think we’re going to have a lot more scarecrows,” says Fran Tiburzio, marketing director for Visit Fairfield County.
At a time when many activities have been canceled because of COVID-19, the contest offers socially distanced activities, as people within and outside of the county can drive to new communities and check out the different scarecrows at residences and businesses from the safety of their car.
Contest participants give their scarecrows a name and are posted on an online Google map for visitors to use as a guide to locate the different scarecrows. Visitors can vote for their favorite scarecrow using QR codes and their smartphone. The scarecrow artist who receives the most votes for each community will earn a plaque, a gift card and bragging rights.
About 3,000 people voted in last year’s competition.
“It’s a great way to unite the community,” says Jonett Haberfield, executive director of Visit Fairfield County. “The friendly competition ... builds pride in (each participant’s) community.”
Peggy Portier is in agreement. As the Pickerington trail’s coordinator, she says the activity motivated residents to visit other Fairfield communities they may not normally have beforehand.
“I’m excited about doing it again this year,” Portier says.
In addition, the event succeeded in attracting people from outside of Fairfield County. Based on data collected from voting, visitors from 14 states checked out the county’s scarecrows, Haberfield says.
While there are several scarecrow festivals around the world, Fairfield County’s trail is the first county-wide event of its kind and, thanks to the trail, the county is deemed the scarecrow capital of Ohio, Haberfield adds.
She found a similar event, but on a smaller scale, in Bremen Village in 2018. It was started by a resident who came across the concept in Connecticut.
Parents told Haberfield that their children enjoyed walking down the streets to check out the different scarecrows, while others told her the event increased foot traffic at their businesses and made their commute more interesting.
Last year, the Sam’s Pumpkin Patch team was surprised when it learned that its scarecrow won the Pickerington vote. Dunlap says his team of student workers were more enthused about their scarecrow winning the contest than they were about their end-of-year bonus.
This year, Pleasantville joins the fray along with Lancaster, Sugar Grove, Millersport, Bremen, Pickerington, Lithopolis, Baltimore, Amanda and Carroll, but with the potential for even more communities to join.
Haberfield and Tiburzio wanted the contest to not only attract visitors and locals to visit different parts of Fairfield, but also to complement the wide array of fall activities such as orchards, pumpkin patches, harvest celebrations and haunted experiences.
“We have all kinds of stuff and this is one piece of our autumn experience,” Tiburzio says.
Brandon Klein is the editor. Feedback welcome at bklein@cityscenemediagroup.com.
