Hoschton’s scarecrows didn’t flock together, Guinness says

Hoschton, the little town off I-85 that went after a big record, fell short of its goal to get in the Guinness World Records with the most scarecrows anywhere.

The Jackson County town, said the London-based compiler of odd facts, certainly had lots of scarecrows —- 5,441 faux folks, to be precise. But those scarecrows were posted throughout Hoschton’s 30548 ZIP code. That, sniffed the publication, just wouldn’t do; the scarecrows should have been in one place —- the town itself.

Well, excuuuuse Hoschton, say boosters who rallied area residents to stick scarecrows all over the place. If you don’t like the way we do scarecrows …

… The World Record Academy does. The Miami association recently declared that Hoschton, population 1,700 or so, holds the world record for scarecrows.

So put that on a pole, Guinness, and wave at the birds.

Still, the Guinness decision means that the Cincinnati Horticultural Society’s claim to scarecrow fame stands. The Ohio organization gathered 3,311 scarecrows in 2003 to establish its title. Hoschtonians gleefully predicted they’d knock the stuffings out of that record —- would have, too, said Hoschton businesswoman Robbie Bettis, but for the fine print.

Bettis, who helped assemble the raggedy army of scarecrows, was diplomatic about the defeat. “Their [Guinness] idea of a location and our idea of a location are different things,” she said.

Guinness alerted her just before Christmas with the bad news, more than eight weeks after Hoschton had catalogued and videotaped its inventory of scarecrows. “They sent us an e-mail,” said Bettis, who knows poor manners when they blip on a computer screen. “We were very, very disappointed.”

The comment from Guinness? By Tuesday the publication’s representatives had not responded to an e-mail about Hoschton’s disappointment.

Bettis and others proposed burning some of the scarecrows in a field east of downtown, but the West Jackson Fire Department hosed that idea. Some of the chemicals in the scarecrows’ cast-off clothing, said the chief, might create a toxic cloud. So people trashed their scarecrows, or shoved them away until next time.

Next time comes later this year, when the town rolls out its annual Hoschton Fall Festival. The townwide party traditionally has focused on scarecrows, and 2009 won’t be any different, said Bettis.

“Our theme?” she said. “I believe in scarecrows.”