Scarecrows pop up in Brachville

Eight years ago, Branchville residents Jeanne and Brad Heinke visited the town of Sandwich, Massachusetts.

While they were there they drove through town and were taken by the wonderful scarecrows with the real pumpkin head that were attached to all the lamp posts throughout the town or by store fronts.

“After we came home and Brad and I said we have the perfect town to do this but not just by the stores: we could get all the people involved,” Jeanne Heinke said. “The first year we went to the town council and we pitched it and we realized that we were undertaking some thing that had a lot of things to deal with, like insurance, needing a sponsor that would have a 501(c) if we had to deal with any money trying to get the town people to understand what to do. So they agreed to it the following year when we decided to start it and there were some stipulations because it was like an undertaking that could possibly not work.”

The Branchville Borough Historical Society, in which the couple were officers at the time, stepped up and said that they would be the project’s main sponsor because they had a 501(c) and they liked the idea.

“We went to the school to try to get all the classes involved to fill up the park but it was a little too late to get the ball on board and the superintendent kindly felt that his teachers had enough to do right then,” she said. “I was disappointed but then decided next year I would try to get them on board so we just went door-to-door in store to store and started explaining what we were going to do.”

Meanwhile Brad Heinke realized they had to make it easy for people, so he figured out a frame to simplify things. The teachers loved the idea and Branchville Park on Wantage Avenue was filled with scarecrows from the Frankford Township School. Other townsfolk, including the Heinkes, put up some scarecrows honoring veterans, and a man sitting on the bench for photos with people.

This fun, lead-up-to-Halloween, fall event has become a highly anticipated tradition and is truly something to behold.

“This year we are anticipating approximately 35 scarecrows in the park,” Heinke said. “Selective insurance came on board and they have every year giving us prize money to the winners which is $300 for first place $200 for second place $100 for third place and many stores and various people donate and we use that money to give about 10 to 12 honorable mention.”

A Facebook page called Branchville Scarecrows exists on social media with more information. The organizers have also put their map of where the scarecrows are located on it. They also have a QR code that can be found at stores and various places around town and that will take you to different sites and maps.

Different families do different themes and it’s really quite something to behold.