From October 29 through November 19, the Metuchen Area Chamber of Commerce presented a crazy display of seventy-plus scarecrows to visitors along Main and New Streets.  Chamber member businesses and/or local organizations decorated their straw friends to either reflect their business or just have some seasonal fun.
 
Visitors to downtown were greeted with all types of creativity in the form of angels, witches, brides and grooms, swimmers, a mummy cat, a fireman saving a baby, a seamstress and tailor, a policeman in full gear, Minnie Mouse, and much more.  Over 700 people cast their vote on the Chamber of Commerce website declaring which scarecrow they liked best.  Winning scarecrows were officially announced on Sunday, November 28th, at the Chamber’s 57th Annual Winter Festival Parade, where all of the straw friends were paraded on a float through the downtown area, with the winners bearing ribbons indicating where they placed.
 
The top vote getter was Black Belt Institute for their “karate kid” posed doing a flying side kick with 111 votes.  The second place ribbon went to St. Francis Cathedral School for their “school girl” decked out in full uniform, back pack and all.  Taking third place was the Borough Improvement League for their “high tea hostess” who looked lovely with her earrings, pearls, fancy hat, lipstick and purse, because no respectable high tea hostess would be caught dead without her pearls and lipstick.  
 
Metuchen resident Lauren Intili was chosen randomly from the 700 plus voters to win a $25 Chamber of Commerce gift certificate. 
 
Congratulations are extended to Lauren, our top vote-getting Chamber scarecrows, and to all of the Chamber member businesses and organizations that participated in this first-ever event by entering a scarecrow.  Special thanks are extended to Silvia Goncalves of Silvia’s Tailoring and her staff for creating 6 additional scarecrows that held signs representing the Chamber of Commerce events held throughout the year.

1st Place

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Black Belt Institute
23 New St., Metuchen, New Jersey
732-205-9797
www.blackbeltinst.com

2nd Place

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St. Francis Cathedral School
528 Main St., Metuchen, New Jersey
732-548-3107
www.stfranciscathedralschool.org

3rd Place

scarecrows-boroimprovementleague
Borough Improvement League
491 Middlesex Ave., Metuchen, New Jersey
732-452-1381
boroughimprovementleague.org