Champion scarecrow maker set to be named as festival returns to Newburgh

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The best scarecrow maker in Newburgh will be crowned this weekend - and you can tour the entrants as the much-loved competition returns.

Returning after a number of years away, Newburgh Scarecrow Festival will once again take place on Saturday (June 22). More than 40 scarecrow makers will fight it out to be crowned Best Scarecrow Maker 2024.

The first Newburgh Scarecrow Festival was held in 2010 and was inspired by the Robbie Coltrane TV show, B-Road Britain. Pat Dalrymple, a volunteer at Tayside Institute Community Centre (TICC) was responsible for the initial idea.

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She said: “Robbie was travelling from Manchester to Glasgow, and he was doing all the back roads. There was a village which felt it had nothing going for it and it had started scarecrows. They were fabulous, they had been doing it for years, and bus groups came in to see them – and that is where I got the idea from.”

People are encouraged to tour the entrants, with between 40-50 scarecrows on display over the weekend (Pic: National World)People are encouraged to tour the entrants, with between 40-50 scarecrows on display over the weekend (Pic: National World)
People are encouraged to tour the entrants, with between 40-50 scarecrows on display over the weekend (Pic: National World)

The community group then took up the challenge with the help of lots of volunteers from across the community to bring back the festival and have successfully re-instated the date in the diary - having run infrequently since 2016.

Pat said: “We had one more recent one, maybe about 2019 and that was done by the scouts, but it only lasted a year, so there was a bit of talk in the town and we felt that we should give it another go.”

This year's theme is the circus, and it has provided plenty of inspiration for budding scarecrow makers who are hoping their creations don’t scare off the judges.

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Volunteers are already looking forward to next year, with the traditional inclusion of stall and market holders hoping to be included again should the competition return in 2025.

You can head along to the TICC. on Saturday, 22 June from 10am to purchase your map and take a tour of all this year’s creations. There will also be refreshments and a tombola on offer at the venue and Newburgh's Own Charity Shop. The winner, who will receive a trophy, will be crowned at 2:00pm on Saturday in the TICC’s Main Hall.

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