So I ran up to see how my scarecrow was holding up, and to see the other entries in my category. Here's how the contest rules describe it:
Traditional/Whirligig - A combination of two old favorites! Pay homage to the scarecrows that have been "scaring crows" from the farmer's fields and gardens for centuries. You may choose to add parts that move or make noise when the wind gusts to make it a true whirligig - either way your scarecrow has it's work cut out for it here in the Village.
Here are the entries:
Family Appeal: Much. Halloween imagery and happy demeanor.
Chances of Winning: Probably in the top three.
Family Appeal: Not much. Kind of scary. Like the coal miner in My Bloody Valentine.
Chances of Winning: Not very likely, due to previously-mentioned murderous miner resemblance.
Family Appeal: Lots. He's cute. Harmless. And a Frankenstein/Clown hybrid.
Chances of Winning: High. Based on experience. I lost to an Egg. 
Family Appeal: Not sure. He looks bored and I think that gets projected onto the viewer.
Chances of Winning: Hopefully none. This guy has been entered into the contest every single year for as long as I can remember. He's beaten previous scarecrows of mine.
Recipient of the Pumpkinrot Martha Stewart Halloween magazine award: For regurgitating and repackaging the same product every year.
Family Appeal: Not Much. Ethnic cultural scarecrows are creepy.
Chances of Winning: Low. Ethnic cultural scarecrows are creepy.
Family Appeal: Tons. Audience participation guarantees this guy a top place win. Kids couldn't wait to get behind there and smile through the head hole. And there's a lever on the back so you can make the body dance.
Chances of Winning: Off the charts. 
Family Appeal: Moderate. Smiling face (but holding a firearm).
Chances of Winning: Probably low. Guns kill people.
Family Appeal: High. A cowboy Corvus brachyrhynchos riding a hooved mammal.
Chances of Winning: Probably in the top three. Kids love when crows choose to ride horses instead of fly.
Family Appeal: Not much.
Chances of Winning: Low. Overheard two women speaking negatively about him. The exact quote - "You know, it's almost TOO good. You know what I mean?" [said with a contorted face as if demonstrating pain].
And, No, actually. I DON'T know what you mean.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Traditional/Whirligig
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37 comments:
I'll tell you what, if yours does not beat any of these I think you should still burn that village down...I mean come on, these don't even come close to what I see as a scarecrow!
(if you lose to #5, trick or treat pete....I'll burn the village for you. >:)
We'll see.
I actually forgot one. You can see a horse in the background of the first photo. That was a cowboy scarecrow.
The women are right - yours is "too good" for their contest. I would take their "criticism" as high praise, yours is the best by far, and it is every year.
"For regurgitating and repackaging the same product every year"
LOL.
Very humorous post Rot. I'd love to push the line and enter something that was utterly tasteless in concept.
madness, utter madness...those other "scarecrows" are surely a sign of the end times...
as always, there just ain't no comparison...if yours doesn't win this year, rot, I really don't think you should even take the trouble to enter next year. it always frustrates me that the general public-at-large really has no appreciation for what's really good. still, I always enjoy seeing your creations and obviously, there are many of us who truly love your work.
I love so much that you continue entering this contest year after year while the judges continue to fail to recognize your artistry
I added the cowboy crow to the lineup.
Thanks, all.
I'm just having fun...I really don't expect to win each year. It's just a hoot being mixed in with all that bright happy stuff.
Halloween-type contests are really confounding, last year my krampus costume lost out to a girl with a box over her made to look like barbie packaging....what the hell...
A riot, man.
"Recipient of the Pumpkinrot Martha Stewart Halloween magazine award: For regurgitating and repackaging the same product every year."
Glad to see my Martha rant made an impression.
I don't get the "too good" comment, either. I mean, are you supposed to submit crap in order to win? Huh?! (Face screwed up in total confusion and pain, since the comment made my brain hurt.)
And she really delivered the statement in the most negative way possible, and shaking her head.
Maybe she was thinking the contest is for kids to enter? I dunno.
lol. very well-written. love the ethnic scarecrow comments. also, the DIY scarecrow is awesome and if you don't win i hope it does. very fun. yours is still so much more professional-looking than all of them....maybe that girl meant that yours is in a league of its own.
Omg this is such a funny post. The one with the gun is totally weird. Yours is definitely the best! Good luck!
Right there with SPOOKSHOWS.COM upthread. Your entry is way "too good" to be appreciated by these folks, sorry to say.
SEEDS IS STELLAR, & unfortunately the local tastes seem, ermmm...ahhhh, too pedestrian to appreciate that.
I once borrowed a freinds alien costume used in a low budget flick.. the latex apparatus was covered head to toe..er claws.. it was a beast!!! ANd a true work of art. I entered a contest and loss to a dude wearing red spandex suit with airbrushed spider web lines. It looked like spider man fell into a washer machine with bleach.. I was shocked..lol.. but your work is second to none.. i hope you win... but as mentioned above, the general public as a whole is artisticly challenged...when it comes to this stuff..
Its a SCARECROW.. SCARE...!!
Very funny...
Unfortunately alot of the scarecrow personalities resemble some of my co workers.
They need a new category int he contest... scary scarecrows.
You should've gone and talked to the woman who said that. Pretend you felt the same way about it. Like an undercover operation.
Yours is really by far the best quality though. By VERY VERY FAR!
"Seeds" truly is TOO GOOD...and I thought Idaho was backward......
People say the stupidest things, you should have agreed with her and got her to expand on it more. Then right when she is done digging the hole, push her in it by telling her that Seeds is yours. Dude people like crap, just look at whats on TV.
I'm really pulling for the "Walk Like an Egyptian" scarecrow. Because desert farming has really got to be difficult.
It's too good? As in it might actually, you know, scare a crow? Maybe one day they'll stop drinking the pablum-spiked Kool-Aid and give you, at the very least, the Lifetime Achievement Award. Gourd knows you've earned that.
A scarecrow with a gun...now that is scary and not in a good way. We inherited an entire lot next door and the first thing I said we need is scarecrows. Of course they won't compare to yours but a ghoul can dream.
I can't tell you how much I admire your scarecrow. Great work!
Leah
it comes down to the fact that your scarecrows are too creepy for some. outside the Halloween season most people avoid anything that's scary like it's the plague. it's a bit of a taboo to bring out the darkness before it's time. And your scarecrows are most definitely Dark.
as for trick or treat pete , I think he's getting a bit of a bum rap.he's not much compered to seed's but he's got a bunch of vintage charm. He shouldn't beat seeds out for top but I kinda like him.
I was thinking about the scarecrow with a gun. It isn't all that strange, Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz carries a pistol . Googled "scarecrow with gun" got 604,000 results!
check it out if you don't remember
http://home.earthlink.net/~jinxo/ozgun.html
I drove from Pgh to do some Halloween shopping and went to Peddlers Village last. Your scarecrow was the last thing and I saw, it was worth the wait. Such an amazing creation! Those other entries don't even come close!!
Rot your a legend, When I think Scarecrow I think Pumpkinrot. When I build a scarecrow I think what would pumpkinrot do here... Your work is amazing and seeds is awesome. If he doesn't win this year it would be just wrong. almost you got to be kidding wrong.
LOL! Too good! Ha, ha....wait that kinda makes sense (LOL!), I know exactly what they mean :D
Your stuff is amazing.
It is so far above perfect, it is in its own universe. :)
Good luck to you!!
Cheers!
OMG! I was in PA for a concert last weekend, and we stopped by Peddler's Village on Saturday to shop. Anyway, I saw that there was a scarecrow competition going on there, but I didn't think it was the same one you participate in annually (especially after looking at a few of the entries, which were far too "family friendly" for me). But I kept thinking how cool it would be to see one of your 'crows in person! I gave up searching after a while, and we ate at Buck's Yard. THEN, after we came out and were walking to the car, I saw SEEDS!!!! It was sheer luck! I was so psyched! He looks great and is clearly the finest work there. That level of artistry and quality is just so obviously out of their league. It's like casting pearls before swine...
AWESOME, K.O.!
Glad you liked him in person!
I want to go up there at night and see how he looks in the dark.
Rot, your work is far too sophisticated for that blunt little tool of a contest. That fact that yours is "too good" should be the true win in this situation. :)
I'm in love with your scarecrow! I first found your blog by google image searching scarecrows. I found a reference to a "Pumpkinrot" scarecrow-Pumpkinrot used like an adjective :) That was last year. Anyway, I'm sure this guy is lighting a real fire for the season in some of the little kids at this festival. That's how it started for me..something scary but beautiful that you can't get out of your head.
@Pumpkin Knight I realise everyone is entitled to their opinion but seriously? Rots work is GENIUS. No matter what time of year it is. I would sell my soul for half his talent!! And I agree with Shadow, burn that place down if you don't win! You should have gotten first place EVERY year.
I'm late commenting on this, but it's stuck with me so I thought I'd come back to leave a comment.
I laughed through the whole post and your commentary because I was thinking the same things you were.
" 'You know, it's almost TOO good. You know what I mean?' [said with a contorted face as if demonstrating pain].
And, No, actually. I DON'T know what you mean."
You should have said that to her ;) I would have been busting to say it had I been there, but I probably wouldn't have either.
I think this statement, combined with how you've described the contest in the past, and mixed with Pumpkin Knight's observation that reminds us that not everyone approaches Halloween the same way, and with the woman's comment as the cherry one top....it all adds up to a clear picture of what the atmosphere of the contest & possibly community is like.
If I had to guess, I think the woman means - in her short sighted way - yours looks like a professional entry in something she perceives as a family contest...you know..googly-eyes and popsickle sticks with a slight upgrade. Because hey, "regular people" apparently don't have artistic talent :p For some reason, she - and as you've learned, many of the people who vote - want whimsy and cute and something that would match their inflatable lawn decorations.
And somehow, she thinks your talent is almost like...like cheating in some twisted way.
I'm going to guess she has zero artistic ability. And I'm going to guess many people who vote don't have much artistic talent. And people often are drawn to entries they imagine they COULD have done or COULD have dreamed up on their own. And also, people like what's familiar (again, going back to that reflection of themselves).
I'm not saying ANY of this makes it right or that I agree with the mentality. I just recognize it as I've seen it over and over again.
These are the people who would walk past all the small decorations we would buy, and head straight for the happy little scarecrow in overalls made out of corn husks. You know what I mean?
Crystal clear...
That makes a ton of sense.
I really wanted to say to her "Don't worry, lady. It's not like I'll win or anything."
: )
amazing work, yours stood out by a mile as the best
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