I was helping ROMP Rescue out (and Italian Greyhound dog rescue out of Chicago) and wanted to get them more fosters and adopters. One way, is public visibility. A suburb called St. Charles has had a yearly Scarecrow fest where businesses can create visual Halloween themed experiences that the people walk through.
What is the St. Charles Scarecrow Festival? It is put on every year around Halloween, since as long as I can remember, and that year it took place from October 11-13, 2013. It consists of food vendors, live bands, a carnival, scarecrows, children’s festivities, food eating contests and a scarecrow contest (that we entered). Our entry was located at Lincoln park near the 5th and Main Street corner.
It was free so I signed us up! At the time I didn’t even know they had prizes but as it turns out, they do and ours won third place so I was able to get a $150 donation for the non profit to help save more pups! The winners are decided based on votes which made the win even better (and sad that I didn’t even vote to help boost our entry placement).
I titled it ‘Rescued is my Favorite Breed / Petrified Pets’ themed entry! It was featured in the Daily Herald, The Kane County Chronicle, the Beacon News by the Sun Times.
We painted skeletons on the dog statues because, it is true, many of the dogs we rescue from the mills come to us as skin and bones! Plus, it is a little spooky looking which is fitting for a Halloween themed event. W spooky skeleton was walking the petrified pup pack but apparently it didn’t scare off this little girl that jumped right in to check them out.
The words ‘adopt’, ‘foster’, ‘donate’, ‘volunteer’, ‘rescue’ were placed on dog bones that were sticking out of the ground. To complete the entry we placed our banner in the background and our ‘ROMP Rescue’ name in letters on the ground.
We want to thank everyone again for helping us win, we really appreciate your support and continuing to educate those to ADOPT and not shop for your next furry family member!
What is the St. Charles Scarecrow Festival? It is put on every year around Halloween, since as long as I can remember, and this year took place from October 11-13, 2013. It consists of food vendors, live bands, a carnival, scarecrows, childrens festivities, food eating contests and a scarecrow contest (that we entered). Our entry was located at Lincoln park near the 5th and Main Street corner. You can view our winning entry and more information about the St Charles Scarecrow fest here: http://www.scarecrowfest.com/contest_winners.php
