The first straw

Don’t expect to see any crows in Fort Recovery.

There are simply too many sentinels keeping watch for them to come near.

Scarecrows are lining the streets and sidewalks of the village’s downtown area for the Fort Recovery Merchants Association’s inaugural Scarecrow Stroll.

The straw-stuffed sentries come in a wide variety of styles, from a swimmer and a surfer to a reading retiree and an upside-down library patron.

The project came from the merchants association looking for something to fill the gap between the start of school and the holiday season. Fort Recovery residents Tom and Tess Kaup witnessed a similar event while visiting their daughter in Michigan and shared the idea when they got home.

“Fall is always a great time to do something different,” said Jenni Smith of the merchants association. “We thought it would just be a great activity for people in the town to jump into and just bring people downtown …”

When they started planning, the hope was to get five sign-ups for the new event. Within two weeks, they had sold out the 25 support poles that were purchased for the project.

“It’s been amazing,” said Smith. “It has gone better than I could have ever expected for the first year.”

Businesses, organizations, families and individuals signed up to participate, with each being provided a bale of straw from Jutte’s Fruit Farm and a pole sponsored by Mercer Savings Bank. The rest was up to them.

Participants received their materials on Oct. 1 and had until Oct. 12 to set up their creations along Wayne Street, where they stretch from Boundary Street on the north end to a half-block south of Butler Street at A Simple Touch.

The list of participants includes businesses A Simple Touch, The Tin Cupboard, Be Your Floral and Apparel, Kaup Pharmacy, Fort Recovery Insurance, Vonderhaars Meat Market, Legacy Farms, Kelli’s Shoes, Grounded Cafe, Sunshine Boutique and Salty Haven, Cedar and Mane, Valdes Farm Drainage, Wayne Oil, Wabash Mutual, Wangler Ace Hardware, Park National Bank, Brick Street Tavern and Polanco Mexican Restaurant; organizations Fort Recovery Recreation Center, Fort Recovery Ambassadors, Fort Recovery Chamber of Commerce, Psi Iota Xi, One of a Kind Auction, Fort Recovery Historical Society, Fort Recovery Public Library and Fort Recovery Opera House; and Tom and Tess Kaup, and Elsie Wendel.

Amy Wendel is the secretary for the chamber of commerce, which was putting together a scarecrow. When her daughter Elsie, 9, saw what was going on, she decided she wanted to participate as well.

“Elsie is kind of an old soul, so she likes to do things like this,” said Amy.

Tasked to create with items she could find at home, Elsie settled on a pool theme for her new buddy name “Puddles.” The scarecrow is wearing a Fort Recovery Eels swim cap — Elsie is a member of the summer team — and goggles. It has legs made of pool noodles and is wearing a Fort Recovery purple swimsuit with a towel wrapped around its waist. It also has several pool flotation devices.

The best part of being involved?

“Just seeing people look at it,” said Elsie, a fourth grader whose favorite subject in school is art.

All of the participants are involved in a contest, with the top three vote-getters to receive gift certificates of $100, $50 and $25, respectively. Voting — each scarecrow has a sign with a QR code, and paper ballots are available at the village’s visitor’s center — will remain open through Sunday, when the village hosts its annual Halloween parade at 3 p.m. followed by trick-or-treating.

“So our goal is that when they are trick-or-treating, they’ll be able to walk through town — some of the businesses will be open with games or candy or different activities the kids can do downtown — and then go and do their trick-or-treating as well,” said Smith, adding that the goal is to make the Scarecrow Stroll an annual event.

Votes have already been pouring in. As of Saturday, there were about 450 votes cast electronically, and a second batch of paper ballots had to be printed.

“We’ve seen so many families come up and just walk with their kids to vote on their favorite scarecrow,” Smith said. “It’s been fun.”