Shrek scarecrow creator Todd Holmes has won his fourth consecutive title as people favourite in the annual Methven Scarecrow Trail in Methven, while the Cate and Smith families won a grocery hamper after correctly identifying all the scarecrows.
Their entry was randomly selected from the 120 correct entries in the competition.
Trail spokesperson Gillian Heald said thousands of scarecrow hunters were out in the April school holidays, following trail maps around the streets of Methven to locate, and then identify characters represented by the scarecrow creations.
Organisers were thankful to the community support and impressed by how many scarecrow hunters manage to guess all the correct characters – this year 120 entries were totally correct which was a record, she said.
‘‘The experienced scarecrow makers are well used to adding clues to help identify their character and many participants who are seasoned and serious hunters resort to the assistance of a little online research to help in the identification process.’’
It was often an advantage to have a range of ages in the scarecrow hunters group to broaden the base of knowledge, and that was just what this year’s winning entry had, she said.
Out of the correct entries, a random draw selected the Cate and Smith families as the hamper winner from Methven Four Square Supermarket.
‘‘This is a family group of three generations from around the South island who were together for a weekend break in Methven,’’ Gillian said.
She said Holmes scarecrow Shrek, with moving parts and sound effects, was his best yet.
However, she said if people were wondering as some people did, if Shrek is actually a fairytale character, then be assured he made the cut.
The oganisers, although allowing a wide range of creative interpretation by scarecrow makers, do check scarecrow characters against an agreed (online) definition of the theme, she said.
‘‘The story of Shrek which actually starts with Once Upon a Time, is a ‘modern’ and certainly famous fairytale that meets the criteria,’’ she said.
The next most popular scarecrows were Moonface by Mount Hutt College, then Hansel and Gretel by Our Lady of the Snows School.
Special judges awards were given to Eeyore by St John’s Church group, The Evil Queen by the Brown Pub and Three Billy Goats Gruff by Leap Ahead pre-school.
Heald said donations from the proceeds of the trail would be made to Methven Primary School, who helped with trail map production and posters, and to the Methven Lighting Project.
A full list of the scarecrow answers and photographs at methvenscarecrowtrail.nz
