Source: Union-News (Springfield, MA)
Author: RICHARD NADOLSKI
GOSHEN, MA – Between the lazy days of summer and the brisk fall foliage season comes the day of the scarecrow, and the local bed and breakfast association here is hoping to stir interest in this familiar autumnal character with its first annual Berkshire/Hampshire Hills Scarecrow Competition.
Members of the Hampshire Hills Bed and Breakfast Association have chipped in to offer a $50 gift certificate, a lap quilt and the seasonal bounty of pumpkins and jams among other foods to be used as prizes for the scariest, funniest and just plain best scarecrow in these parts.
A team of judges will be making their way through the hilltowns during September to choose the winners, which will be announced on or about Oct. 3. Although many of the members of the association have joined the fun and have put up their own scarecrows, only non-members are eligible to receive prizes, according to Jody Kerssenbrock, the originator of the idea.
Kerssenbrock, of South Street, believes the scarecrow contest is a natural for the region, with its patchwork quilt of small farms and Sleepy Hollow back roads, and a good way to give the month of September that little jolt it seems to need to convince tourists that fall really begins earlier than October.
“In the hilltowns, by mid-September the leaves are really in their prime. In the middle of October you could have a big rainstorm and the leaves are gone,” she said.
Association President Edward McColgan, the owner of Max’s Restaurant on Route 9 in Cummington, agreed.
“The leaves up here are already beginning to turn by Labor Day. The crisp new apples are ready, and watching September’s rich gold and red colors unfold against the bright blue skies is, to say the least, spectacular,” he said.
Besides, tourists won’t find fall foliage traffic jams in September, and McColgan said it’s time for the region to share the fruits of its gardens along with the scarecrows who have performed “noble summer service” protecting them.
Arnold and Carolyn Westwood, the owners of Windfields Farm in Cummington, a bed-and-breakfast establishment, are ready to share some of their prized items. Mrs. Westwood’s maple syrup, pumpkins and jams make up a collection of first-place prizes.
“My maple syrup took first place at the Cummington Fair. I’ve been trying for that prize since 1975. My pumpkins took first place, too,” she chimed.
The Westwoods get visitors from around the globe during the summer months and tourists from as far away as California make reservations at least two months in advance to visit during foliage season. They have to because flights coming in from the West Coast are apt to be sold out – particularly around Columbus Day, said Mrs. Westwood.
Scarecrows are so much a part of the autumn scene that a lot of people don’t need the encouragement of a contest to get busy. Roque Sanchez of Huntington Road in Worthington said he didn’t even know there was a contest going on when he and his 4-year-old son, Lennen, and 12-year-old niece, Irene Shakly, took advantage of the beautiful weather and began creating one just for fun.
Sanchez said he has attempted to give his scarecrows the appearance that they’re in motion by picking tree limbs for their arms and legs that were “kind of curvy.” Little Lennen’s has a coconut head and straw hair, while his own has one of his hats and a corncob pipe. Irene’s has a hair band and a gourd for a head. They are all dressed in their own clothes and have taken on the look of the family gardening together, Sanchez said.
The scarecrows have a practical side as well – they act as night watchmen.
“My neighbor came at night, at 9 o’clock, and saw what he thought was a person standing there in a white shirt. He asked himself, ‘Is that Roque working outside so late at night?’ ” Sanchez said, laughing.
The contest is also the latest prop in what is a friendly rivalry between the Goshen and Chesterfield Fire Departments. The two organizations have challenged each other to create the best scarecrow and have even formed a pact not to touch each other’s creations.
That did not stop the Chesterfield group from a late-night raid recently on Goshen’s scarecrow, which sits attached to their vacant former firehouse on Route 9. The scarecrow sits two stories up as an “anti-sabotage” measure, said Goshen Firefighter Robert Labrie, who built it with his wife, Sue, and fellow firefighter William Benoit.
Goshen’s scarecrow has a familiar look for Chesterfield since its face is a blowup picture of Chesterfield Fire Chief Winston Bancroft. After the raid, Goshen’s scarecrow was accompanied by four cut-out crows that look anything but scared. There was also a sign saying, “Chesterfield makes Goshen Eat Crow,” left next to the scarecrow until it was unceremoniously removed by Goshen.
“We left the crows up because they looked pretty good,” Labrie said with a laugh.
Chesterfield Firefighter David Hewes said the two departments like to take advantage of such opportunities to get to know each other since they form part of the hilltown mutual aid pact where departments help neighboring communities during fires.
“What’s nice is you get to know these guys and just by doing these things it makes you closer to other towns so in a major disaster you know who you’re working with,” Hewes said.