ZANESVILLE – Downtown scarecrows are returning for the fifth year, and some special treats are on the line for the 2025 winner.
The annual Halloween lineup, hosted by Visit Zanesville, is returning Oct. 10, with another 41 scarecrows to decorate Zanesville’s Main Street and delight Muskingum County residents in time for Halloween.
Like years past, the top three place winners will be honored and are chosen by the people. The first-prize scarecrow will win what Visit Zanesville’s manager Jordin Harmer calls some special treats.
Online voting will start immediately after the scarecrows go up and will close Oct. 31. Each scarecrow will have an attached QR code to cast your vote digitally or you can visit the Visit Zanesville’s website to vote once the scarecrows have been posted. You can vote once every 24 hours.
It’s an open theme, but there are typically unofficial trends that pop up every year, like Taylor Swift in recent years. In 2024, one scarecrow also honored the passing of James Earl Jones with a Lion King-inspired entry for his voice performance of Mufasa.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing all the creativity. Every year, there’s always some sort of pop culture theme that people go for. I’m looking forward to seeing what this year’s popular trend is.”
In 2024, 4,800 total votes were cast, naming Spectrum the first-place winner for a nightmarish face-melting scarecrow that alledly loves its job. Second and third were North Valley Bank and Conn’s.
2024’s entries also included SpongeBob SquarePants, jack-o’-lanterns, tributes to veterans and much more.
The contest’s registration fees and proceeds will go toward funding Visit Zanesville’s numerous other holiday and seasonal events, like Storybook Christmas. The Welcome Center is also encouraging people to take selfies with the scarecrows during the contest.
Shawn Digity is a reporter for the Zanesville Times Recorder. He can be emailed at sdigity@gannett.com or found on X at @ShawnDigityZTR.
This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Spooky, scary and funny scarecrows return to downtown Zanesville as part of annual contest
Reporting by Shawn Digity, Zanesville Times Recorder / Zanesville Times Recorder
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