Scarecrows placed in a cornfield should be frightening enough to keep the crows off the corn.
But during the 13th annual Festival of Scarecrows, shop owners are hoping for the opposite effect with scarecrows designed to win people’s affection.
The Festival of Scarecrows takes over the Historic Olde Town Arvada district today with about 30 scarecrows entered in a friendly neighborhood competition.
The fun starts at 10 a.m. when attendees can pick up a voting ballot and a map of participating entries. The scarecrow entries are placed around the historic district — roughly nine blocks bordered by Olde Wadsworth, Yukon Street, Ralston Road and Grandview Avenue. The winner is determined by public vote, which will be tallied by 1:30 p.m.
“The main festival takes place in Olde Town Square,” says Jason Dennison, director of the Historic Olde Town Arvada association. “But we’ll hand out maps of the scarecrow locations so that it turns into a little walking tour.”
Many of the entries won’t been revealed until today, but some early birds had their entries ready days in advance. Several have even pushed the definition of “scarecrow.”
“Knit Knack is a yarn shop, and they have hand-knitted monkeys in their window as their entry,” Dennison says. “So it’s not even a scarecrow at all.”
Karen Miller, owner of Paws ‘n’ Play (7403 Grandview Ave.), opted for a Rockies-themed scarecrow.
“We wanted to honor the Rockies getting into the playoffs,” she says. Miller scoured her shop for items to use, and spent an afternoon on her creation.
“It started with a goofy, round baseball head mask,” she says. “And I’ll add a few tombstones with R.I.P. for the Giants and other teams that didn’t make the playoffs.”
Ed Tomlinson, an agent for RE/MAX Alliance, spent several days and more than $300 on his Wizard of Oz themed entry.
“I’ll be dressed as the Tin Man, my girlfriend Nancy Southard will be Dorothy, and we even have a living Toto,” said Tomlinson. Scarecrow versions of the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion will round out the entry, and a yellow-painted 4-by-8 foot sheet of brick paneling will serve as the yellow brick road.
Tomlinson and Southard even created a music playlist with popular songs from the movie soundtrack, and watched the film several times to check details. “We looked for things like the blue-checked towel in Dorothy’s basket, or the right kind of apples,” Tomlinson said.
The winning entry will receive a cash prize and an award certificate. But for Tomlinson, a first-place win means more than just the prize, or even associated bragging rights.
“I do it partly for personal achievement,” he says. “But really, it’s just to entertain the children.”
