METHVEN SCARECROW TRAIL

HumptyDumptysatona?Little MissMuffetsatona?LittleJack Hornersatinthe?

For most of us, Nursery Rhymes are part of our childhood memories, and we can easily recall the endings to the above lines.

Each year during the April school holidays, members of the Methven community build scarecrows to a particular theme. These scarecrows are then scattered around Methven township for children and families to locate and identify the name of the characters represented by each scarecrow.

The theme for this year’s scarecrow creations is, you guessed it, ‘Famous Nursery Rhyme Characters’.

The choice of this theme is in itself an exercise in nostalgia.

The very first Methven Scarecrow

Trail was held as part of a Methven Walking Festival in 2006, which had Nursery Rhyme Characters as the theme. The Scarecrow Trail ran for another five years with different themes until it was discontinued in 2011. A local mother and daughter team, Gillian Heald and Karyn Robertson decided to bring the Trail back to life in 2013, choosing Famous Nursery Rhymes themes for their first event. The child and family focused theme worked well as a school holiday activity, and the Scarecrow Trail has continued with child-friendly themes, becoming increasingly popular and growing from around 1,000 participants in 2013 to 3,000 last year.

Ten years on from the 2013 revival and the 2023 Scarecrow Trail is once again part of an exciting Methven and Foothills Walking Festival which runs for Easter and the first week of the school holidays. There will be something for everyone, with fifteen different walks. You could also book yourself in to experience the fantastic Opuke Hot Pools while you are in town. If you need to fuel up there is a great range of restaurants and cafes in Methven.

The Scarecrow Trail runs for the entire school holidays (April 8th - April 23rd). There will be sponsored prizes for the most correct entries and the most popular scarecrows. So bring out your inner child and take your children to this year’s event in Methven. Trail Map/ Entry forms are available from the iHub Information Centre.

For further information visit: methvenscarecrowtrail.nz

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