What started as a photo competition on the state 4-H level has become a friendly scarecrow competition among local teachers, with the featured works on display for all to see at the Limestone County Courthouse.

The competition started when Chloe Wilson, 4-H Foundation Regional Extension Agent, and Lisa Towe, 4-H Foundation Regional Extension Agent Assistant II, reached out to their Youth Council members to make a scarecrow for displaying outside the Extension Office in Limestone County, according to the Limestone County Commission. Wilson and Towe then decided to take it a step further and host a competition that teachers and students could join.

Photos of the decorated scarecrows were submitted for voting, with the winners announced Sunday. First place went to “Picasso,” created by a fifth-grade class at Sugar Creek Elementary. Second place was a scarecrow crafted by the advanced ag program at Limestone County Career Technical Center, and third place went to a scarecrow created by a different fifth-grade class at Sugar Creek.

The winning groups are each set to receive a pizza lunch party, courtesy of Limestone County Alabama 4-H. Limestone County Commission Chairman Collin Daly also insisted some of the scarecrows — winners and otherwise — be displayed at the courthouse, where he brought in a fall-themed backdrop complete with wagon, pumpkins and mums to join them.

“I know how much our citizens enjoy our courthouse square being decorated this time of year,” Daly said. “I am excited about the addition of the scarecrow artwork exhibit created by local students and teachers at the courthouse.”

Visitors to The Square in Athens can spot the fall-themed arrangement on the southwest corner of the courthouse grounds.