More than one hundred handmade scarecrows will line the streets of Ayton this weekend for a community festival organised by local volunteers.
Famous faces from Hollywood and beloved cartoon characters will be depicted in scarecrow form across Ayton starting this weekend.
Village streets will be transformed into an outdoor exhibition, with over a hundred handmade creations placed throughout East and West Ayton. The community-wide effort aims to provide an affordable day out for families while bringing local residents together for a bit of friendly rivalry.
Trail maps can be purchased by visitors wanting to track down every single display. Organisers have promised a wide variety of themes, drawing inspiration from classic films, popular television shows, and traditional stories.
Julie Smith is one of the organisers behind the popular event. She said:
"We've got 113 scarecrows dotted across East and West Ayton. There's lots and lots of fun entries this year. Previous entries from previous years, we've had Wallace and Gromit, the Wizard of Oz, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. There's lots of fun, and it's a really good cheap day out for all the family at £3 a map from the Spar shop on the main street at Ayton and it's just a cracking day out. I reckon I can expect quite a few of the Wallace and Gromit type films, maybe a bit of Shaun the Sheep, maybe some cartoon characters, nursery rhymes. There's there's all sorts going on. People's imagination's just run absolutely wild."
The festival requires significant planning behind the scenes, driven by a dedicated team aiming to improve community life. Across the villages, residents have been working quietly on their displays to surprise their neighbours.
Julie Smith highlighted the massive scale of the community effort and the secrecy surrounding the local creations. She said:
"The preparation's massive. The events organised by the Ayton Jubilee committee and we're a small, but very enthusiastic group of volunteers and what we do is we put on e- events throughout East and West Ayton and to try and make it in a really good place to live. All of the villages have come on board with this, you know, everybody's been really busy making the scarecrows. There's a lot of secrecy about, you know, nobody knows what the neighbours are doing and it's all a good bit of fun and a good bit of banter. Yeah, there's a lot of work goes into it, but yeah, it's so worth it. I just can't wait to get round and have a look."
The scarecrow trail will be active throughout the weekend, offering visitors the chance to explore the village and enjoy the wild imaginations of the Ayton community.
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