Friends of park to host Moonlight Walk Oct. 16
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Scarecrows of all sizes and designs are beginning to spring up around Harrison Park, where this year’s Scarecrow Invasion will be on display from Oct. 10-31.
As fall sets in and Halloween approaches, scarecrows will again invade downtown Ellijay.
This time, they will gather at Harrison Park.
Last year was the first time that the Scarecrow Invasion display, previously a fall fixture around the downtown Ellijay square area, went up at the walking park, confirmed Linda Lancaster, of Friends of Harrison Park.
“There was a little bit of concern about the safety of doing it downtown, so we felt like moving the idea to the park was a good one. It actually surprised us at how many people participated in building scarecrows and coming out for the Moonlight Walk. We had over 100 people for the walk last year. We felt like it was successful last year and it would be a good idea to do it again this year,” she added.
Anyone visiting the park can check out the display beginning Oct. 10 and the scarecrows will remain up through Halloween, Lancaster noted.
Friends of Harrison Park will hold their Moonlight Walk event Friday, Oct. 16, from 6-9 p.m. The event is free to attend and open to the public.
“We wanted to create a safe event for families. We felt like this would be one of those things where it would be easy for people to feel safe,” Lancaster said. “We’ll be serving hot chocolate, and we’ll have flashlights to make it fun for the kids to walk around in the dark and see the scarecrows. We ask that (those attending) do social distancing and our volunteers serving hot chocolate will be wearing masks and gloves. We will make sure we’re following the governor’s guidelines.”
Lancaster said any business, family or individual who wants to make a scarecrow and have it displayed at the park can do so. The entry fee is $35. Any school-affiliated organization can enter a scarecrow for free, she noted.
“(The entry fees) go into the Friends of Harrison Park fund to do more programs like this,” Lancaster said.
The park is not hosting build-your-own scarecrow events, so anyone who wants to have one displayed must first make it, then bring it to the McCutchen Street park.
“They’ll have to build their own scarecrow and we’ll put up a metal post that they can attach it to. Everybody that turns in an application will get assigned to a different post. They’ll come put it up and they can put up a sign advertising who they are. We’ll have a competition where the people who come to visit will vote on the winners and we’ll have the top three winners,” said Lancaster.
“Anybody who needs help putting a scarecrow up or taking it down, all they have to do is let the Friends of Harrison Park know and (we can make time to help them) as best as our schedules will align,” she added.
For more details on the Scarecrow Invasion or the Moonlight Walk, contact Lisa Harrison at 561-793-1908 or lisalharrison57@gmail.com.