Winners Chosen for Montauk's Scarecrow Days

The Scarecrows have been up in Montauk for a couple of weeks now. The weather - and some hooligans - have not necessarily been kind to them, but they're continuing to put a smile on my face every time I drive through town. There are even daily surprises - new scarecrows continue to go up and entries already in place sometimes sport new accessories.

Our anonymous judges made the rounds last week, restuffing, repairing, and photographing all of the entries. They had a difficult time choosing the winners - each and every one of them is great - but choose they did. Without further ado, they are:

Best Overall:

1st Place (Tie), Ellie the Mermaid (Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate) / Fishenstein (Chuckie Morici, Lisa Valcich, Catherine Lefevre, Megan Morici)

2nd Place: Owl, Bliss Kitchen

3rd Place: Little League Team, The Rutkowski Family (yes, that's my family and me - we promise, we did not pay off the judges!)

Best Youth Group Entry: Montauk Daisy, Girl Scout Troop 1811

Best Traditional Scarecrows: Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz, Montauk Chamber of Commerce / Skier, Daunt's Albatross Motel

Most Original: Octopus, Anni Spacek and Alison Seiffer-Spacek

Best Surfer: Wavecrest Hotel

Best Witch: Montauk Printing

Best Scarecrow for a Cause: Pink Lady

Most in Need of PT: A"knee"ta Payne, Manual Sports and Physical Therapy

Most Worth a Close-Up Look: Mummy and Me, The Ibrahim Family

Best Pirate: Espo's Surf Shop

Most Inspiring: Montauk Library

The Best Original Montauk Local: Montauk Indian Princess, Kathleen and Amanda Beckmann

Photos of all of the scarecrow entries can be viewed on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3738314339720.2140291.13319977....

Montauk Youth, Inc. and the Montauk Village Association thank all who have participated, as well as our sponsors Riverhead Building Supply and Gurney's Inn. The scarecrows are set to be up through November 2, so come check them out!