Newtown Middle School’s Annual Scarecrow and Painted Pumpkin Event gathered “car loads” of donations for FAITH Food Pantry over the weekend of October 23 and 24.

Members of the public were invited to see student-made creations on display and open for voting both days, and the top vote winning entries were announced on October 25.

In lieu of the typical financial donations for local charities, the public was asked this year to bring items to donate to FAITH Food Pantry.

For the annual event, students design larger-than-life scarecrows that can withstand Mother Nature. Normally, $1 votes for a favorite scarecrow by community members raise money for charities chosen by the top three winning scarecrow creators, as previously reported in The Newtown Bee.

Instead, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, in place of a money collection for entry votes, the decision was made to ask for donations for FAITH Food Pantry. Voting was still be conducted over the weekend.

For this year’s effort, eighth grade art enrichment students worked in groups, with parent permission, to create the scarecrows. The Painted Pumpkin Patch, which started last year as a COVID-19-friendly alternative, continued for single entries and was open to all students. The students received community service hours for completing the projects.

NMS art teachers Leigh Anne Coles and Kris Ladue oversaw the effort.

“We are super proud of our students, and very glad that we were able to bring back our annual event, after having taken a break during last school year due to the pandemic,” Coles said in an e-mail following the event. “We hope that by next school year, we will be back to our paper ballots, and will be able to collect funds for charity. It was important for us to keep with the spirit of giving since the scarecrow event promotes giving back to the community; so we decided to collect food items for the Faith Food Pantry.”

According to Coles, there were 17 scarecrow entries and 14 painted pumpkin entries. More than 50 students participated this year.

The top vote earning pumpkins were “Covid Pumpkins” by seventh grade student Vika Abukhovich in first place; “The Seven Dwarves” by seventh grade student Sierra Marx in second; and “The Aliens from Toy Story” by eighth grade student Hayden Valentin.

The top vote earning scarecrows were “Forky” by eighth grade students Amanda Faircloth, Riley Ragan, Avery McKendry, and Annabelle Foley in first place; and there was a tie for second place for the “The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man” by eighth grade students Nate Hoag and Chris Guererra and “The McDonald’s Fries, Drink, and Chicken Nuggets” by eighth grade students Sonya Feder, Annika Van Sickel, and Kayla Sinapi.

“Kris and I are always amazed with the work and ingenuity our students have when it comes to these projects,” Coles wrote. “We provide them with the parameters at the beginning of the school year and let them run with it, and they never disappoint. This project is a wonderful way for students to work through a variety of challenges like team cooperation, time management, material testing, construction, assembly, etc.”

After the event, Coles said, two “very full, packed, car loads” of donations were delivered to FAITH Food Pantry.

Education Reporter Eliza Hallabeck can be reached at eliza@thebee.com.