Scarecrow Decorating is Serious Business in Sea Isle City

Sea Isle City’s annual Harvest Classic is host to a fierce scarecrow competition. Attend this year’s festival, and see the winning scarecrow, on Saturday, October 19, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Excursion Park.

Sea Isle Realty’s mermaid-scarecrow hybrid from last year.

A Festival With Local Roots

SEA ISLE – At the end of the Yellow Brick Road is not the emerald Land of Oz; it’s actually Sea Isle.

For the past few years, Sea Isle has hosted the Harvest Classic, typically held the week before Halloween. This festival, according to organizing committee president Brian Heritage, is “something more for the people who own homes and come down in the Fall.”

“There’s entertainment, food, and shopping. It encompasses everything,” Heritage added. “Plus, you’re giving the stores that are here the opportunity to unload some summertime merchandise leading into Christmas, when their Fall stuff is coming in.”

While this festival offers a wide range of events, including food trucks, a pie-baking contest, beach hayrides, and live performances by the Hickstown Road band, none are as notable as the annual Scarecrow competition – something unique to Sea Isle.

From Oktoberfest to Harvest Classic

The competition began with the start of the Harvest Classic three years ago, in 2022. The Harvest Classic was an evolution of Oktoberfest and the Harbor Festival, held annually pre-COVID in Sea Isle. Both festivals came to a slow and undramatic end at the onset of the pandemic. In its wake came the Harvest Classic.

Businesses Battle for Scarecrow Glory

This competition is offered amongst all Sea Isle businesses, including those who are Harvest Classic vendors and those who aren’t.

Voting Opens Before the Festival

Each business designs a scarecrow and places it in front of their storefronts. Then, a week before the festival weekend, the public votes on which scarecrow they like the best in a poll issued by the Sea Isle Chamber of Commerce.

Growing Entries Every Year

According to Heritage, the competition began with about 16 entries at the first festival. It’s grown to 25 since last year.

Past Winners Take Pride

Last year, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1963 Auxiliary won 1st place for their two scarecrows: one dressed as Uncle Sam and another in a 1960s U.S. soldier uniform.

Bragging Rights and Prizes

The winner of the competition wins bragging rights and a gift card for Heritage’s own Heritage Surf and Sport. “It’s a little bit of friendly competition among the Sea Isle businesses,” Joanna Grecko of the Chamber of Commerce said.

A New Shore Tradition

The competition has garnered a bit of a cult following over the past two years, with many people starting to travel to Sea Isle the night before the festival to see the scarecrows.

Scarecrows Draw Crowds

“We’re noticing that people will come down the night before and go along and take pictures of all the different scarecrows,” Heritage said. “Kinda like taking a haunted hay ride, but a treasure hunt for looking at the coolest scarecrow setups.”

Competition has only grown amongst the businesses, with some businesses even openly soliciting people for the votes – and they do it all for the bragging rights.

A Creative Outlet for Businesses

The competition, though, is all in good fun, giving businesses a creative outlet that can also help boost sales.

“You’re coming to check out their scarecrow, and who knows, maybe you’ll stop in and shop, too,” Heritage explained.

When they began the competition, according to Heritage, they were uncertain if any of the businesses would buy into it. Now, it is one of Sea Isle’s most wholesome traditions.

“It’s a cool thing, because everybody has embraced it,” he said. “No one wants to lose this now.”

How to View and Vote

Be sure to catch a glimpse of this year’s scarecrows and vote through the Chamber of Commerce website.

For people unable to view the scarecrows in person, they can view the entries online, through the Chamber of Commerce website and Facebook page.

Don’t Miss the 2025 Festival

The Harvest Classic will be held on Saturday, October 19, from 10 am to 3 pm.

Heritage added that the festival and the upcoming Sea Isle Christmas festival are part of the shore town’s continued development amidst the other county towns.

“Sea Isle? We’re not gonna get left behind. We’re the little town that could,” he said.

Luke Grippo is a summer writer for Do the Shore. He is a news editor at Princeton University’s The Daily Princetonian. Thanks for a great summer, Luke!