The neighborhood contest brought neighbors together and donated to a worthy cause
Catherine Bailey and her husband went on a fall cruise a year ago. The cruise stoped in Charlotte Town on Prince Edward Island in Canada, the couple came across a city-wide scarecrow festival. The festival brought such joy to Bailey that she wanted to share the tradition with her neighborhood on the eastside of Longmont.
Bailey moved to Longmont from Texas and was excited to get to know new neighbors. However, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and prevented her from meeting most of her neighbors. After the cruise, Bailey saw an opportunity to connect with her neighborhood organization’s social committee to create a new tradition in the community.
Her neighbors were nervous about creating a scarecrow, she said. Most people were lost on what to do. Bailey turned to the internet and found instructions for building a basic skeleton for a scarecrow from PVC piping. She bought several 8 foot lengths of piping and created kits for her neighbors to begin.
Around 15 neighbors jumped on board and created scarecrows to decorate their lawns for the fall season.
“The fun, creative and quirky were all great conversation pieces as we strolled the neighborhood, casting our votes, seeing old friends and meeting new neighbors,” Bailey said.
In addition to building a scarecrow, the neighborhood created a voting system. Neighbors were encouraged to drop coins into a voting container near the scarecrow. Each coin counted as one vote no matter its work, Bailey said.
The contest yielded 2,299 votes which resulted in $143 raised. The winner of the contest was the homeowner who created the scarecrow “Wood Chuck.” This homeowner chose to donate the $143 raised to Roberta’s Legacy, a local nonprofit organization that aides those diagnosed with breast cancer throughout their journey.
This was the first year for the contest in the eastside Longmont neighborhood, however, Bailey said the neighbors are already planning their scarecrows for next year.
