It still feels like summer, but fall will be here before you know it, so it is time to start planning for Andover’s fourth annual Scarecrows and Pumpkinheads All Around Town event. This year the event will be coordinated by the Hub’s Andover Garden Club as part of its town-wide beautification program.

We are asking that the entire community get involved. There is no specific theme for your display. The hope is that both businesses and residents will use their imagination to create fun scarecrow displays throughout town.

Need some inspiration to get started? Look around the house and try to incorporate items you already have. Stools, benches, wheel barrels, tractors, snowmobiles, bales of hay, bikes and boats are all great “large scale” starting points. 

To build your scarecrow, you can use plastic bags stuffed with newspaper, hay, or other lightweight materials to make arms, legs, and bodies. Then head to your closets or check out the Andover Service Club’s Thrift and Gift Shop for clothing items. 

If you want to get really fancy and incorporate real pumpkins into your display, the best way is to start by securing the “head” to a dowel or stake. Remembering that pumpkins can be heavy, the wider the base stake, the sturdier your structure will be. 

There is also a great YouTube tutorial by the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce at YouTube.com/watch?v=6Ko5EqCfFxw that has a ton of great ideas and tips for displays.

More information will follow in next month’s Beacon, but for now, let’s get planning! It would be great to have displays up by Saturday, October 1, so everyone has the entire month of October to enjoy.  Thank you!