Guide to the Great Akron Scarecrow Festival

In September 2024 I had a fun surprise: I got asked to be a judge for the Akron Scarecrow Festival! I was super excited, but what even is the Great Akron Scarecrow Festival?? Based on research and on my personal experience attending this cute festival as a judge and enjoying the festivities, here's what you should know if you're considering going in a future year: 

What is the Great Akron Scarecrow Festival?

The Great Akron Scarecrow Festival is an annual fall festival in Akron, Iowa which includes lots of scarecrow themed fun. Most notably, they have a big scarecrow contest with lots of creative entries in several divisions. The Great Akron Scarecrow Festival has been celebrated every year since fall 2000 and is still going strong, on the third Saturday of September each year. Besides the scarecrow contest, the festival also has a kids zone, petting zoo, food vendors, craft vendors, photo opps, and a cute train!

Where is the Great Akron Scarecrow Festival? 

The Great Akron Scarecrow Festival takes place at the Akron City Park in Akron, Iowa. The park is just off Iowa Highway 12, across the street from The Spot coffee shop (be sure to grab a drink for your drive home!) Akron City Park is about 35 minutes north of Sioux City or about an hour south of Sioux Falls. There is ample free parking at Akron City Park for the Great Akron Scarecrow Festival. Just turn left at the pool and follow the car in front of you!

The Scarecrow Contest at the Great Akron Scarecrow Festival

One of the highlights of the Great Akron Scarecrow Festival is the scarecrow contest. Dozens of entrants build elaborate scarecrows and compete in age divisions for kids, tweens and teens, and adults, plus a category for clubs. The resulting scarecrows are impressive, mostly cute and occasionally spooky instead. I wanted to give them all prizes and had a tough time choosing winners with my fellow judges. There was so much time, talent, creativity, and hard work on display! 

Food and craft vendors at the Great Akron Scarecrow Festival

Come hungry to the Great Akron Scarecrow Festival, because they have delicious food for sale! There is a food station inside a picnic shelter with delicious sandwiches and hot dogs, chips, drinks, and desserts. I got a free meal as a judge and chose a sloppy joe with chips and a slice of apple pie, and it was so good! There was such a huge variety of flavors available, and they sure looked homemade to me. We also bought a cookie bar, which turned out to be a sugar cookie bar with pink buttercream frosting and rainbow sprinkles, and it was delicious too.

Besides food there are also a large number of other vendors. A few stalls that stood out included handmade wooden decor, 3d printed cute miniatures, beef tallow balm, and handmade doll clothes (they would fit Barbies and Kens)

And there were booths that weren't selling anything but were instead representing local organizations or businesses, like the Akron Chamber of Commerce and the Lions Club. Many of them had fun giveaways or activities, like there was a scavenger hunt from the local chamber and tons of little treats from Coilcraft.

Kids Zone at the Great Akron Scarecrow Festival

The Kids Zone at the Great Akron Scarecrow Festival featured a variety of free and ticketed fun. Free fun included a playground and petting zoo, plus some cute photo opps. In 2024 there were goats, kitties, bunnies, and a mama and newborn baby donkey!

Tickets for the non-free activities in the kids zone were 50 cents in 2024, and the train ride and most of the carnival games were only 1 ticket! The carnival games all had prizes and included plinko, pumpkin bowling, a leapfrog game, punch a cup, fishing over a painted wall.

There was also face painting for a few tickets and I saw so many kids with adorable face paint!

The train was definitely a highlight for my kids. Parents could ride too, and it just went for a short sweet little ride to look at all the scarecrows and then back to the hay bale station to load the next group! 

Find out more about the Great Akron Scarecrow Festival

To learn more about the festival, visit the Great Akron Scarecrow Festival website or connect with them on Facebook. KTIV also had a great story about the festival.