The Newtown Parks & Recreation Fourth Annual Scarecrow Contest has received applications from 29 teams — nearly double the number of entries for last year’s contest — and the public is now invited to vote for their favorites in three categories.

Scarecrows have been created by local groups as well as individual residents and their families.

All are in the running to win from the contest’s three categories: Most Original Scarecrow, Newtown Pride Scarecrow, and People’s Choice Scarecrow.

Voting opened Thursday, October 26, and continues to Monday, October 30.

Winners will be announced Tuesday, October 31.

Scarecrows were due at Fairfield Hills this week, but the first entries showed up a few weeks ago. A group calling itself Meeting of The Mindless was first to raise its creation, mounting a kayak to a lamppost near NewSylum Brewing Company. A scarecrow was in the kayak, which was heading into the clouds.

Within days another scarecrow arrived, this one standing on its head atop a hay bale. Accompanied by a sandwich board sign that read, “Seeing The World From A Fresh Perspective” (a message that has reportedly been updated a few times since its installation), that scarecrow near the main entrance to the campus was the product of Around Town Real Estate.

Roseann Reggiano, assistant director-recreation for Newtown Parks & Recreation, is pleased with both the number of entries and the level of artistry on view this year. Reggiano initiated the contest four years ago.

“They’re so creative!” she said Wednesday morning. “The first one that went up, the ‘wrong way with the kayak,’ and then the Around Town one, I was just in awe. The creativity they’ve all shown this year is amazing.”

By Wednesday of this week another 24 scarecrows had been installed on lamp posts. The three final contestants were expected by Thursday morning.

Entries this year are concentrated along Trades Lane, Keating Farms Avenue, and Simpson Street.

Reggiano urges readers to park and walk if they want to truly understand the work that has gone into this year’s scarecrows.

“When you drive by them you really can’t see what’s going on,” she said, noting some of her favorite details. “You really have to walk up to each one to really see what’s happening. They’re just so awesome. I love them all.

“I think it’s going to be hard to vote,” she added. “They’re so good, they really are.”

Ballots and the ballot box are located within Newtown Community Center, at 8 Simpson Street. Ballots can also be downloaded at newtown-ct.gov/parks-recreation (click on the blue 4th Annual Scarecrow Contest 2023 button along the left side of the page, then on ballot 2023 at the bottom of the page) and turned in at the community center. They will also be linked to the online version of this story.

Reggiano asks readers to vote “no more than once each day.”

There is no fee to vote.

Teams paid $25 to enter the contest, which will benefit future pickleball courts in town.

Winners will again pick up bragging rights for the year, along with the chance for a Summer 2024 Family Pool & Beach Membership Pass or assorted tier prizes donated by local businesses.

Last year’s winners were UK Gourmet for Most Original, Bee Publishing Company for Newtown Pride, and Newtown Veterinary Specialists for People’s Choice.

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.