On the weekend of Oct. 12, 2025, the St. Charles community hosted the annual Scarecrow Festival, attracting thousands of attendees from both near and far. From scarecrow decorating to live entertainment, visitors had a full range of fall activities to enjoy and many opportunities to get into the spooky mood.
The infamous Scarecrow Fest began in 1985, originally as a small event featuring only 39 scarecrows and 10,000 visitors altogether. During its fifth year, the event took off with popularity, attracting more than 40 thousand attendees and showing more than 80 scarecrows annually. Today, the Scarecrow weekend has progressed into a three-day ordeal, now showcasing over 100 decorated scarecrows and hosting over 80 thousand visitors statewide.
This year, the festival held many family-friendly activities, including pumpkin painting, a corn maze, face painting and scarecrow viewing. Pottawatomie Park held the Autumn on the Fox art and craft show, presenting over 100 crafters with various handmade items. On 1st Street Plaza, a Trunk-or-Treat activity took place along with balloon making and festive photo booths, where visitors had the opportunity to travel from car to car and collect candy from decorated vehicle trunks.
Scarecrow Fest also promoted many local businesses throughout the weekend. One business that was showcased during the festival was Goldfish Swim School, which hosted a meet-and-greet with the school mascot, Bubbles. This gave younger attendees a chance to take a photo with the mascot, get involved in the fall fun and learn quick tips about water safety. Another business that was featured was Kiwainis Face Painting and Tattoos, giving visitors the opportunity to get spooky face paintings and tattoos.
The largest activity of Scarecrow Fest is the scarecrow decorating contest. Each year, families and businesses across town come together to decorate their own scarecrows, which are later judged by the Scarecrow Fest attendees. This year, the scarecrow contest had over 120 entries across four categories: mechanical, individual, non-profit and business. Some notable businesses included Hotel Baker, Whole Foods Market, Kimmer’s Ice Cream and St. Charles Community Unit School District 303. While there were many winners throughout all four categories, the first-place winners included American Science and Surplus in the industrial category, the Pistilli family in the individual category, St. Patrick pre-school in the nonprofit category and 212 Degree Construction Group in the business category.
As always, Scarecrow Fest was a popular hit and gave every visitor a chance to get involved in the fall fun.
