Scarecrow contest features autumn art

FALLS VILLAGE — Scarecrows were on display downtown on a crisp autmn afternoon Saturday, Oct. 22.

People wandered up and down Main Street, debating the relative merits of the entries. One man, looking at Willy Blass and Izzy Fitch’s “Scary,” commented, “That’s not a scarecrow, that’s art.”

Val Case was regarding her entry, “Steam Bride of Punkin’ Stein,” with a critical eye. “Needs more tubing,” she said, and disappeared.

And more than one visitor did a double take at Sarah Charlesworth’s realistic “Self-Portrait,” showing a woman bending over an old-fashioned camera to photograph a huge spider.

The Best in Show award was won by the Hewins/Cohn family entry, “Tidbit of the Wizard of Oz,”  an ambitious piece featuring Dorothy, the Scarecrow and, up in a tree on the Green, the Wicked Witch.

The “Oz” piece also took third place in the Most Beautiful and Most Creative cetagories.

Throughtout the afternoon the Old Croken Stillers, from Amcramdale, N.Y., played American music — a bluegrassy, country mix with guitar, upright bass, fiddle, mandolin, slide guitar and banjo.

Scarecrow contest winners

Best in Show: “Tidbit of the Wizard of Oz” by the Hewins/Cohn family

Most Falls Village:

1. “Paul” (The Tripp Family)

2. “Hay Hay Jose” (The Falls Village Inn)

3. “Miss Nelson is back ... or is she?” (Hunt Library Story Hour Gang)

Most Beautiful:

1. “Scarecrows and Tiaras” (Callie Carter)

2. “Angel” (Falls Village Congregational Church)

3. “Tidbit of the Wizard of Oz” (Hewins/Cohn family)

Funniest:

1. “Black Eyed Crows” (Denise Tamberino and Nikki Kowalski)

2. “Out to Lunch” (Dom and Sean Caiati)

3. “Humpty Dumpty” (The Rock/Haggard family)

Most Creative:

1. “Self-Portrait” (Sarah Charlesworth)

2. “Steam Bride of Punkin’ Stein” (Val Case)

3. “Tidbit of the Wizard of Oz” (Hewins/Cohn family)

Scariest:

1. “Scary” (Willy Blass and Izzy Fitch)

2. “Ding” (the Dodge family)

3. “Sleeping Ghoulie” (Birdie and Hoyt Boyden)

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