Scarecrows have become rather a thing in my East Tamar neighbourhood. They start popping up along fence lines and verges as we get closer to the annual Harvest Market. This in turn began as a way of supporting St Matthias Church that was on the Anglican list of Tasmania’s rural churches to be sold in order to raise funds for the redress payments to historic victims of sexual abuse. The community was incensed that such a historic church was being considered for sale, and very quickly came together to ensure sufficient funds were raised to see any potential sale was off the agenda.
That was several years ago but ongoing funds are necessary to ensure the upkeep of the church and grounds – including the small and equally historic cemetery. Hence the annual Harvest Market – and the novelty addition of a scarecrow competition, the brainchild of the local Garden Club, that’s proved so popular it soon became an annual event with more entries each year.
It's very much a community initiative with our local Men’s Shed creating and selling the frames for a very modest sum.
How effective these imaginative and clever creations are at ‘scaring the birds’ is a mott point, but I suspect not very - given few of them are anywhere near the property’s vegie patch. And that’s assuming properties all have a vegie patch to protect.
Unsure who has the task of deciding the best scarecrow but judging the best one will be a tough job because as well as lots of them, there are some really clever ones this year.
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