Scarborough Borough Council

Muston Scarecrow Festival cancelled

An internationally-acclaimed scarecrow festival has become the latest casualty of the wet English summer.

More than 100 scarecrows had been predicted to pop up in Muston, near Filey, for the annual village event which was due to begin on 28 July.

However, the Muston Millennium Committee which organises the festival, says it has been forced to cancel the event because the field traditionally used for car parking is too waterlogged.

Chairman of the committee, Cllr Godfrey Allanson, said: “Even though we’ve had a few good days of sunshine, the water table is just too high right now. The ground is saturated and if we allowed 1,500 vehicles to park there, as there has been in previous years, it would have created all manner of chaos.

“Unfortunately, the village itself is not designed to cope with the influx of thousands of cars and coaches we get for the festival, so we’ve had to take the very difficult decision to cancel this year’s event.

“It’s a great pity for Muston because the festival is a great community effort with many villagers getting involved and I know we would have seen some incredible scarecrows, appreciated by a great number of people, this year as in previous years.

“Financially, the decision to cancel the festival is also a blow to the village, as income from the parking is ploughed straight back into the community - obviously this will affect organisations like the cricket club, Young Farmers, and Monday Club, as well as the village hall.

“We are all fairly despondent right now, but at the same time, there is a determination to bounce back. We’ve overcome adversity before and in this Olympic year I think we can harness some Olympic spirit and pull through.”

The first Muston Scarecrow Festival was held in 1999 and was a great success. Residents were invited to make scarecrows and for a £1 fee could enter into a competition with a small prize for the best effort.

The scarecrows were placed out in the streets and visitors came and enjoyed them so much that word of mouth spread, with more and more people visiting the festival each year.

Last year, thousands of visitors were wowed with scarecrows of a Dalek, Laurel and Hardy, Kung Fu Panda, Bob The Builder and even Elton John.