Trailmasters begin prep for fall event

Published 12:00 am Friday, July 16, 2010

The Opp Trailmasters will begin work on their “Scarecrow in the Park” event next week and they invite the public to help.

On Tuesday, the county is invited to a scarecrow workshop, which will begin at 10 a.m. after the organization’s meeting at the Senior Center on Brantley Street in Opp.

“We encourage businesses, the community, schools, everyone to participate,” president Kenneth Short said. “We want a lot of people to come out. It’s great advertising.”

Short said this event is not just an Opp event, but a Covington County event.

The scarecrows that are built during the workshop will be put along the trails at Frank Jackson State Park on Oct. 1 for the annual “Scarecrows in the Park,” which will be up through the month of November.

“We will need to put them up the last weekend in September,” Short said.

The workshop is being held to help those who would like help building their scarecrows, but anyone can have a scarecrow put on the trail.

Short said that while they do not have a goal set for the number of scarecrows they would like to see, last year’s event had nearly 280 scarecrows.

“That’s not a lot once you get them set out along our trails,” he said.

There are about four miles of trails at the state park, in which the organization, which was founded seven years ago have worked to create.

Anyone interested in participating should bring plastic bags, jugs, twine or wire, gourds, old clothes and any other materials that can withstand the weather and animals that might be attracted to the scarecrow.

A second workshop will be held Aug. 3 at 10 a.m.

The Trailmasters will hold a scarecrow-making workshop July 20 after its 10 a.m. business meeting at the Senior Center on Brantley Street in Opp. | Courtesy photo