Everything you need to know to enter this year’s East Boldon Scarecrow Festival

The Scarecrow Festival, which attracted more than 100 entries when it was held for the first time in 2018, will take place again on Saturday, September 14 at Grange Park, East Boldon.

The Friends of East Boldon Parks group, who organise the competition, are hoping to build on last year’s success and see even more of the straw figures popping up around the village.

Applications are now open and residents are invited to put their artistic skills to the test to enter this years competition for this year’s theme ‘At the Movies’, which was decided by members of the community.

Individuals, businesses and community groups are encouraged to get their entries in before the deadline on Sunday, August 11.

“We’re hoping for even more entries this year,” said Friends of East Boldon Parks secretary, Rebecca Higgins.

“All the businesses in East Boldon did one last year. It would be brilliant if everybody got involved.”

Local school children also entered a competition to design an invitation to the event, which was won by Francesca Navi, in Year 5 at East Boldon Junior School.

The group has been holding fun days in the village for more than a decade, but with new members joining the committee last year they were keen to bring some new ideas to the table.

“We wanted to do something different. There has been success across the country with scarecrow festivals so we thought we would give it a try,” Rebecca explained. “We were a bit concerned that we weren’t going to get any last year, and then we had so many I was worried about where we were going to put them all.”

She added: “We’re hoping to build on the success of last year and make it even better.”

Entry forms can be found on the Friends of East Boldon Parks Facebook page or from one of the following establishments; Blacks Corner, Daniela’s Fish Bar, East Boldon Village Pharmacy or East Boldon Library.