GROVES — Merchants in Groves are looking to start a new fall tradition with their first ever Scarecrow Decorating Contest.

Paige Hervey, owner of The Collection and one of the downtown Groves merchants, said there are three categories of the scarecrow decorating contest; adults, kids and commercial, which includes businesses, churches and schools.

Adults and kids can decorate a scarecrow in Celebration Park on Lincoln Avenue, while commercial entries are encouraged to decorate the front of their building to help make Groves look festive for fall.

Scarecrows are already popping up around town and in the park, she said. The entries will be judged at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8. Organizers are asking people to keep the display up until at least Monday, Nov. 7.

“We encourage people to travel to Groves to see all of the cute scarecrows and fall decorations,” she said.

The idea of a scarecrow decorating contest came from discussion between merchants wanting get find ways to get people to the city.

“Rita Theis (recently retired business owner) has been wanting for years to decorate like Gatlinburg, Tenn.,” she said. “She’s been there in the fall and saw the hay and fall decorations and really wanted us to do that.”

Though Hervey can’t remember exactly which merchant had the scarecrow idea, she knew it was something positive for the community.

“Let’s invite others to be in on it,” she said. “Like when a whole neighborhood has lights. People will go to Groves and see the scarecrows in Celebration Park and see what we (merchants) have done and give more reason to come to Groves.”

Cindy Kreutzer, owner of Oliver Maxwell’s Boutique on Lincoln Avenue has already jumped into the fall spirit with a Grenadier Guard styled scarecrow outside her business.

“Our shop is called Oliver Maxwell and kind of has a London theme to it, so what better way to build on the London theme than to use a Grenadier Guard?”

Kreutzer said the scarecrow decorating contest is good for the downtown area, and there has been a lot of response from the Lincoln Avenue Groves Facebook page.

“If we can get a small percentage to participate for this first event, we’ll be happy, and we hope to build on it so it gets bigger and bigger and fills Celebration Park with scarecrows,” Kreutzer said.

Prizes will be awarded to adults and kids, and commercial winners will earn bragging rights.

Participants are asked to remember this is an event for children of all ages. Scarecrows may be funny, scary quirky, etc. but must be in good taste. Any scarecrows that display excessive violence, offensive, crude or derogatory components may be rejected.

For more information about the contest, contact Paige Hervey from The Collection at 713-542-3285 or theherveys@hotmail.com.

Applications may also be picked up at Oliver Maxwell’s Boutique, 4316 Lincoln Ave., Groves.