The buzz around Shangri La Saturday afternoon was that a man in Orange had to switch from drinking bottled beer to canned beer. His wife needed a lot of recycled cans for her club’s scarecrow design. Cheers to the man. “Miss Ivy’s Hay Ride” by the Ivy League Garden Club won the grand prize in the Ninth Annual Scarecrow Festival.
More than 1,900 people strolled, or rode a hayride, through the Shangri La Gardens and Nature Center Saturday for the Autumn Fair on the last day of the 2018 Scarecrow Festival. Families with grandparents and young children played games like Gourd Golf. The Houston Museum of Natural History brought a collection of live bugs for the brave child to handle.
The Scarecrow Festival this year drew more than 60 entries. The scarecrows are supposed to incorporate recycled items. The displays were put out in October and visitors voted for their favorites. The winners were announced Saturday afternoon.
After Miss Ivy, the second place grand prize winner was for “Magnolia DuVin,” by Free State Cellars featuring a ghostly 18th Century pirate woman. Maggie Reynolds, Carolyn Gorby and Kerri Droddy took overall third play with “Joe Pachyderm and His Unlikely Friend Macaca Fasciularis.” It featured an elephant made from recycled cans.
The Donnelly/Wimmer Family had the overall honorable mention with the children’s classic “5 Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.” Children, and a few adults, couldn’t help themselves singing the ditty when they saw the whimsical display.
Winners were:
Business I Category
First: Free State Cellars “Magnolia DuVin”
Second: Spine & Sports Medical Center and Physical Therapy
Third: Golden Triangle Emergency Center “Saved Under Friday Night Lights”
Honorable Mention: Granger Chevrolet
Business II Category
First: Home Depot “Homerstein and Bride”
Second: International Paper “Ida Paper”
Third: Sabine FCU “Inside Out”
Church Category
First: Life Church Orange “Scarecrows Are Better Together”
Family Category
First: Maggie Reynolds, Carolyn Gorby and Kerri Droddy “Joe Pachyderm and His Unlikely Friend Macaca Fasciularis”
Second: Donnelly/Wimmer Family “5 Monkeys Jumping on the Bed”
Third: Wayne and Alice McCray “Mr. McScarry Wizard of Recycling”
Organizations Category
First: Ivy League Garden Club “Miss Ivy’s Hay Ride”
Second: City of Orange Police Dispatch “Tammy the Dispatcher”
Third: Girl Scout Troop 130003 “Growing Future Leaders”
Honorable Mention: Friends of the Depot
Honorable Mention: Deweyville 4-H
School Category
First: Mrs. Cooper and Ms. Davis Third Grade “Miss Nelson Has a Field Day”
Second: LSCO Dental Assisting Society :Dental Daisy”
Third: Texas Association of Future Educators
Honorable Mention: Little Cypress Christian Academy “Charlotte’s Web”
Director’s Awards
Best Environmental Message Exhibit: Children’s Garden Committe “Scarecrows Past, Present, and Future”
Most Inspirational: Southeast Texas Hospice “Hospice Angel”
Best Use of Recycled Materials: Life Church Orange “Scarecrows Are Better Together”
Social Media