How Stony Brook Village's Scarecrow Contest Connects to Its Main Street Shops

Walk down Main Street in Stony Brook Village this week and you'll notice the shop windows are a little more crowded than usual. Registration forms are still taped to a few counters even though the deadline passed on September 23. Staff at Crazy Beans and Premiere Pastry Shop already know what's coming: sometime around October 3, stacks of paper ballots will appear by every register, and for three weeks the village will run an informal, low-stakes election that has nothing to do with the school board.

This is the Ward Melville Heritage Organization's 36th Annual Scarecrow Competition, and if you've lived here more than one autumn, you already know the shape of it. WMHO, which runs the contest, also manages the Village Center storefronts, including the space at 77 Main Street.

A Contest With a Fee, a Deadline, and Forty Rivals

The mechanics of the scarecrow contest are almost bureaucratic in their consistency. Entrants pay a $30 fee, submit a registration form available at any shop or downloadable from the Village Center's website, and build a six-foot creation to be installed along the public walkways. Voting opens October 3 and closes October 25. Winners are announced at the Halloween Festival on Saturday, October 31, starting at 2 p.m. In past years the festival has featured the WMHO's mascot, Monster Merlin, for photos and WALK 97.5 supplying the music, alongside trick-or-treating through the shops.

The contest typically draws around 40 entries, according to WMHO communications manager Claudia Powell in a South Shore Press report. "The possibilities are endless," she told the outlet, describing a contest where "people are constantly coming up with creative ideas" every single year. Past entries have included pop culture riffs, animal-rescue tributes, and full tableaux built by professional entrants competing in a separate division from families and individuals.

Entry fees and ballots are part of how a long-running community tradition keeps going, and the same organization that coordinates it also looks after the storefronts where the ballots are collected.

WMHO's Events and Village Center Storefronts

The Ward Melville Heritage Organization was established in 1939, and it still functions as both the cultural programmer and the property manager for a Village Center that today counts more than 30 shops and 7 restaurants along Main Street.

WMHO combines cultural programming with commercial leasing at the Village Center. Gloria Rocchio, president of Stony Brook Village Center, welcomes new restaurants in her role overseeing WMHO's commercial leasing. The organization also announces scarecrow sponsors such as Long Island Speech, Green Towers Group, Apple Bank, and Renewal by Andersen.

When Luca, the modern Italian restaurant at 93 Main Street, closed temporarily after a January fire, it reopened in March. The reopening schedule appeared through WMHO channels that also announce scarecrow deadlines: dinner service starting Thursday, March 13, with regular lunch and dinner hours resuming the following week.

What Actually Changed on Main Street This Year

At 77 Main Street, formerly home to Grist Mill Eatery, Schnitzels opened this spring. The all-day concept was created by Tim and Callie Martino, owners of Crazy Beans, and Dave Striffler, owner of Brew Cheese. It serves eggs and lunch sandwiches during the day, then German bratwurst, pretzels, and schnitzel variations for dinner, with a beer list including German-style options and local craft beer.

For visitors, the opening is one more way the Main Street dining mix continues to evolve.

WMHO coordinates the village's scarecrow calendar and manages the Village Center storefronts, bringing its event programming and commercial property work together in Stony Brook Village.

How to Use the Scarecrow Contest Timeline

If you want to see this year's scarecrows without hunting for them, the timeline is straightforward:

• Ballots go out to every shop and restaurant starting October 3
• Voting runs through October 25, with completed ballots returned to any participating storefront
• Winners are announced at the Halloween Festival on Saturday, October 31, starting at 2 p.m.

The festival itself has historically included trick-or-treating through the shops and lawn games for kids, though as with any annual event it's worth confirming exact details closer to the date through the Village Center's own event listings.

Whether you're voting for a scarecrow or stopping in at Schnitzels afterward, you're spending time in a village where one organization looks after both the seasonal events and the shops that host them. That pairing helps explain why the October calendar and the Main Street storefronts feel so connected.

If you're the kind of neighbor who likes knowing how a place like this actually works, not just what's happening in it this weekend, that curiosity tends to serve you well no matter what you're doing here next. Team Calderon keeps an eye on these details because we live in these villages too, and we're always glad to talk Stony Brook with anyone who wants to go deeper than the scarecrow ballot.