MAIN STREET VINELAND PLANS
SCARECROW CONTEST AND PUMPKIN PATCH PARTY IN DOWNTOWN VINELAND

“Scarecrow Challenge” Event Partnership with Vineland Board of Education
Pumpkin Patch Party at Mini-Parks on October 29

VINELAND, NJ—Main Street Vineland is planning two downtown major events for the Halloween season—a month-long Scarecrow Challenge contest and a Pumpkin Patch Party on Saturday, October 29.

The Scarecrow Challenge is being organized in partnership with the Vineland Board of Education. All Vineland public and private schools, as well as local clubs and organizations are invited to design scarecrows. The scarecrows, situated on frames made available through the Board of Education, will be mounted on downtown lampposts on Landis Avenue. Some lampposts will be decorated with corn stalks.

Those interested in entering a scarecrow can contact the Main Street Vineland office. The deadline for entering scarecrows will be October 7 and they will go up on October 17. For more information on entering a scarecrow, call the Main Street Vineland office at (856) 794-8653. To order a frame, contact Ross Stanger, the Vineland Board of Education’s supervisor of instruction, at (856) 794-6700, ext. 2016 or at rstanger@vineland.org.

The public can vote for the best scarecrow by going to the link on the Main Street Vineland website—www.mainstreetvineland.org—or you can vote by paper ballot in selected downtown Vineland stores. Voting will end at midnight on Thursday, October 27.

“We want this to be a real community event—school students and adults from community groups—to bring fall cheer to our downtown,” said Main Street Vineland Executive Director Russell Swanson. “I want to thank Ross Stanger and the Vineland Board of Education for being a strong partner in this and really playing a major part in making this happen.”

The winning scarecrow will be announced at the Pumpkin Patch Party, which is set for Saturday, October 29, from 11 to 1 p.m. The mini-parks, at Landis Avenue and the Boulevard, will be decorated for fall, with hay bales, pumpkins, corn stalks, and mums. The party will include a variety of fun seasonal games, pumpkin-painting and pumpkin seed spitting contests, exercise classes, through the Vineland Health Department, a DJ, and much more. The winner of the Scarecrow Challenge and the two runner-ups will be announced and they will receive prizes.

“This is yet another way in which we, as a community, are making our downtown a focal point for our city and making our mini-parks the kind of center of activity for which they were created,” Swanson said. “It is all part of Vineland Pride. Whether you want to enter a scarecrow, vote for your favorite, and/or come out for the Pumpkin Patch Party, your participation will help make our downtown the best it can be.”

For more information for this and all Main Street Vineland events, call the Main Street Vineland office at (856) 794-8653, visit the organization’s website at www.mainstreetvineland.org, or visit it on Facebook.