The Meltham Scarecrow Festival will return to Meltham this year. The event, which usually takes place over May Bank Holiday weekend is always popular with families.

The Scarecrow Festival will take place instead of Meltham Memories weekend, for one year only.

Planning for the event began just a few weeks ago, awaiting updates in Government guidance for public events and the event is now confirmed to go-ahead following consultation with Kirklees Council and others.

The event will feature locally made scarecrows, which will be judged by the Mayor of Meltham Clr Roberta Bampton and Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Dave Walton from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.

The event will take place over the weekend of July 3 and 4, between 11am and 5pm. The deadline for entries is Thursday, July 1 at 5pm.

Taking place over two days, the hub of the event will be within the bus turning circle, where a selection of community stalls will be hosted, alongside a pop-up bar delivered by the ever popular Three Fiends Brewery (pre-booking is strongly advised) – it will be table service only. An ice cream van and Tin Box Pizza Co will be in attendance too!

Those wishing to create and submit a scarecrow to be judged are asked to visit the website, www.melthammemories.co.uk and register it so that we can include it within the Scarecrow Trail. The website will be the main source of information for the event, so anyone wishing to attend can find out more information there too.

A spokesman for the organisers said: “The event is aimed to get residents out of their homes and into the village – we want people to rediscover their local facilities once again and shop locally.”