Scarecrow contest to take over Third Avenue in October
Dollie Boyd sets up a scarecrow in front of Washington Federal Bank on Tuesday, Oct. 6, as part of the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center and Downtown Moses Lake Association's Scarecrows on Third event.
Casey McCarthy/Columbia Basin Herald
Dollie Boyd, left, and Jenni Shelton, right, from the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center, stand beside a pair of scarecrows that recently went up in front of Washington Federal Bank on Third Avenue in Moses Lake on Tuesday, Oct. 6.
Jenni Shelton with the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center straightens up a scarecrow that was recently installed on Tuesday, Oct. 6, on Third Avenue in Moses Lake in front of Washington Federal Bank as part of the Scarecrows on Third event.
A pair of scarecrows have been set up on Tuesday, Oct. 6, as part of the Scarecrows on Third program through the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center and the Downtown Moses Lake Association.
Spooky scarecrows stand outside of Windermere K-2 Realty, LLC. on Third Avenue in Moses Lake on Tuesday, Oct. 6, as part of the Scarecrows on Third program from Moses Lake Museum & Art Center and the Downtown Moses Lake Association.
MOSES LAKE — Crows will be avoiding Third Street in Moses Lake during October – people are being invited to make scarecrows which will be displayed along the street. The “Scarecrows on Third” contest is sponsored by the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center and the Downtown Moses Lake Association.
Museum manager Dollie Boyd said it’s a new event for the museum, although the museum did something similar a couple of years ago. The staff set up scarecrows in the central hallway at the Moses Lake Civic Center – but it’s 2020, the year of the coronavirus outbreak. “We’re very limited in what we can do,” Boyd said.
Because an indoor contest wouldn’t work, the museum staff and the downtown association collaborated on an outdoor display. Boyd said she hopes to have scarecrows on display from the Pioneer Way intersection to the Moses Lake Post Office.
Entries will be accepted through Oct. 19. The entry fee is $5, and families can submit multiple scarecrows for the $5 fee. All fees will go toward prizes, Boyd said. First place in each category is a $25 gift card.
Entries can be submitted at the museum, 401 S. Balsam St. Each scarecrow must include a sign with the title and the individual, group or business that made it.
People can vote for their favorite scarecrows by emailing [email protected].
Entries are being accepted in traditional and non-traditional categories, and there are four age groups in each. Scarecrows must be durable and weather-resistant, and they must be handmade.
Entries must be three to seven feet in height and cannot block entrances or sidewalks. They must be maintained by the individual, group or business that entered them. The contest is family-friendly, so scarecrow artists should keep that in mind, Boyd said.
Judging will be the week of Oct. 26 and winners will be announced Oct. 30 on the museum’s website.
Boyd said museum officials were looking for a way to celebrate Halloween during a pandemic, and employees at the Parks and Recreation department suggested a scarecrow contest. Boyd said she had been part of a similar event at her previous job in Tennessee, and she put the two ideas together to come up with this contest, she said.
