DURROW SCARECROW FESTIVAL 2018: Another successful Scarecrow Festival is over, which brought thousands of people to Durrow for a fun filled nine days. Durrow Development Forum would like to take this opportunity to thank all our sponsors and all those who supplied their services free of charge or land for parking. A special thanks to our scarecrow makers. We cannot express our appreciation enough to our many volunteers who continue to donate their time before, during and after the Festival, your commitment is what makes this event so successful. To the Garda Siochanna, Civil Defence, Laois Partnership, Laois County Council and our Community Employment Scheme, thank you all for your support. Finally a big thank you to all the visitors who attended the festival, we hope you enjoyed it and we would love to see you again next year.

SCARECROW RESULTS 2018: The 2018 All-Ireland Scarecrow Championship Awards Ceremony took place in the Scarecrow Village on Sunday 5th August, kindly sponsored by St Canices Credit Union. For the first time ever we had Joint Overall Winners with the top prize shared between “Scarecrow Electric Picnic” by Durrow Men Most Actively Seeking Retirement and “The Pope Mobile” by the Conahy Vintage Club. The winners of the General/Open Category were: First – “Daniel and the Den of Lions” by The Faith Mission Summer Camp; Second – “Peter’s Borough in Durrow” by Dove House; and Third – “Spiderstraw” by Ellis Family.
The winners of the Most Humorous Category were: First – “The Old Scarecrow Who Lived in a Shoe” by Kathleen Drennan; Second – “Seven Meno-pausal Dwarfs” by Ann Conroy; and Third – “Holy Cow” by Tom Dunne. The winners of the Most Topical Category were: First – “Scary Art” by Marie Moylan; Second – “The Handmaids Bale” by Ann Lanigan and Theresa Delaney; and Third – “I Really Don’t Care. Do You? by Declan and Stephanie Phelan.
The winners of the School/Pre-School Category were: First – “When I Grow Up” by Happy Days Creche; Second – “Not Another Stampy!” by Padraic and Naoise Buckley; and Third – “Cat in a Straw Hat” by Siona Lalor. The winners of the Youth Under 16 Category were: First – “Ebony and Ivory” by Paige Boyhan; Second – “Texaco” by Glen and Neil Stanley; and Third – “Disney’s ‘Moana’ How Far l’U Go” by Lucy and Anna Clooney.
The winners of the Youth Assisted Category were: First – “Peter Rabbit” by Caoimhe, Neasa O’Regan and Ellen Woods; Second – “Maorina” by Aaron Jacob; and Third – “Room on the Broom” by Teresa Delaney.
The Judges Choice (in no particular order) were as follows: “Owl Be Out Kayaking” by Laois Kayak and Canoe Club; “Fake News” by Mattew and Gillian Bowe; “The Scarecrow’s Christmas” by Ballyragget Hall Wednesday Morning Group; and “The Really Hae’s” by Sean Conroy.
The winners of the Large Hay Bale Competition 2018 were: First – Porcupine “Looking Sharp” by Emily and Millie; Second – Dartboard by Ela Jago; and Third – The “Hay I” Man by the Conroy Crew.
The winners of the Senior Photography Competition were: First Place – Frank Fanning; Second Place – Margaret Quinn; and Third Place: Esther O’Regan. A Special Award went to: Jim Fennelly. The winners of the Junior Competition were: First Place – Ellen Harvey; Second Place: Helen Allen; and Third Place: Louise Wellwood.
The Durrow Scarecrow Festival Treasure Hunt winner was Sophie Lawlor. Well done to everyone who took part! The Scarecrow Coloring competition winners were: Aishling Mahony; Clara Kells; Isaac O’Hogan; Olivia Beehan; Brett Hovenden; Lily Dunne; Caoimhe Casey; Abbeygail Syyed; and Emily Jacob. Congratulations to all, what amazing talent you all have, the judges had a hard job to pick the winners!