Downtown Manchester, MI October Events: Scarecrows & More

What does a city do first once it has someone whose job is downtown? In Manchester, the first answer shows up on October 3. That day, each person who signed up gets a cornstalk, a medium-sized pumpkin and a bale of straw at an assigned spot in front of a participating downtown business, then builds a scarecrow there.

The City of Manchester announced last week that Dana Queen is the new director of the Downtown Development Authority. It's a 20-hour-a-week job, and office hours will be announced soon. Queen also runs the Manchester Farmers Market and plans to keep doing so. She was photographed at the last market of the season on Sunday, September 27. City manager Michael Sessions said she was hired partly to help the DDA take a more active role downtown. That includes supporting downtown businesses and creating new events. Her first project is the scarecrow contest. It's a small event, but its rules send the whole month through downtown storefronts, and it ends at an event a local business was already planning. That's a good guide to how the new DDA is starting out.

Every Vote Happens Inside a Downtown Business

There's no ballot box on the sidewalk and no online form. Community members vote for their favorite scarecrow inside participating DDA businesses, one vote per person per day. Voting opens when businesses open on October 3 and closes when they close on October 19. That gives a dedicated voter 17 days to vote, and each vote means walking through a door on Main Street.

The displays stay up much longer than the voting does. The scarecrows remain in place until November 1, so the DDA asks that they be sturdy and weatherproof. A month of southern Michigan October weather will test that.

As of today, September 30, there are two days left to enter. Here's how it works:

1. Email [email protected] by Friday, October 2, at 8 p.m. Entry is free and open to individuals, businesses, organizations and clubs.
2. You'll be assigned a spot in front of a participating DDA business.
3. Pick up your cornstalk, pumpkin and straw bale at that spot on October 3, and set up your scarecrow the same day.
4. Watch the Make It Manchester page on Facebook for contest announcements.

The Rest of the Calendar Belongs to the Shops

Queen told The Manchester Mirror she'll help however she can with events that downtown businesses already organize. October has plenty of them, and the scarecrows will be standing outside for all of it.

The biggest night is the sixth annual Witches Night Out on October 10. It runs from 5 to 11 p.m., with shopping, dining, drinks, drawings and store specials, and costumes are encouraged but optional. Specials are listed at All Thingz Green, Dragonfly and Birch, Frank's Place, Manchester Brewing, Steele Grafix, The Sassy Peacock, The Vintage Flea and The Village Tap.

The raffle is the detail that matters most. Every $50 you spend at participating businesses earns one ticket toward the gift basket raffles at the party at Manchester Mill on the Water. Receipts have to be from that day and from businesses listed on the event's Schedule & Specials Card. So keep your receipts as you go, because a purchase made the week before won't count. The 21+ party at the Mill starts at 8 p.m. Costume and Cackle Contests are at 8:30, the basket drawing is at 9, and dancing runs from 9 to 11.

Dragonfly and Birch at 115 E. Main St. hosts more of the month than any other single address. Its free Psychic Fair, on the same Saturday the scarecrows go up, offers intuitive readings and healing services from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. On October 17, the shop hosts the Velvet Hideout Speakeasy from 7 to 10 p.m. DJ Auld is playing Gatsby-style music, special guest bartender Ivan LaHaie is serving Prohibition-era cocktails and mocktails, and there are prizes for best costume and best couple costume. Tickets are sold online or in the store. The ticket gets you the password and the location, and the Ann Arbor.org event listing warns that space is limited.

The Winner Is Named on South Elton Street

The contest doesn't wrap up at a DDA event. River Raisin Distillery holds its annual Trunk-or-Treat on Sunday, October 25, from 1 to 3 p.m. on South Elton Street. The scarecrow winner will be announced there at 2 p.m. and will receive a DDA gift basket.

The distillery started planning in early August. It's looking for businesses, organizations and individuals to decorate a trunk or a table and hand out candy. If you'd like to take part, email Sarah Duffing at [email protected]. The announcement doesn't give an exact street number, so look for the decorated trunks once you're on South Elton.

The host is a small-batch, family-owned distillery whose products include Cane & Grain, made from Michigan grains and cane sugar, along with a scratch-made agave liquor and rum. Its listed address is 480 West Main St. The contest starts on the sidewalks of the DDA district and ends at a business-run event a few blocks away. That's the arrangement Queen described when she said she'd support the events downtown businesses already run.

Why the City Started With Scarecrows

The bigger goal behind the hire is the Michigan Main Street Program. Sessions said Queen was brought on to guide the DDA toward what the city calls Associate Level status in that program. DDA chairperson Christine Eleby explained the appeal:

"For Manchester, participating in this program would give us access to expert planning, technical support, marketing services, and grant opportunities that we don't already have access to."

Eleby described the program as a way to re-energize traditional downtowns by blending economic development with historic preservation. The closest example is Saline, which already has Associate Level status. Queen managed the Saline Farmers Market for years and worked alongside Mary Dettling, who coordinates Saline's Main Street program. She and Sessions also have a meeting scheduled with the head of Main Street America.

Queen has been candid about the timeline. Her first official day was a Monday last week. Since then she has met with most downtown business owners and read through almost all of the old DDA meeting minutes and agendas. She told the Mirror that new downtown events probably won't be at full speed until next year. That's why this October's scarecrow contest is a small, low-cost start. It's free to enter, the materials are supplied, and it gives the people building scarecrows a reason to talk to the shop owners whose windows they're standing in front of.

The next chance to weigh in is on the calendar. Downtown businesses are holding a Christmas in the Village planning meeting on Thursday, October 22, at 7 p.m. at Dragonfly and Birch, and anyone may attend. The event itself is Saturday, December 5, with parade lineup at 5:30 p.m. and the parade at 6. If you have ideas for downtown, you can reach Queen at [email protected].

At Sage Premier Real Estate, we follow how Manchester's downtown is changing as closely as we follow its homes. If you're out voting for scarecrows this month and a question about the town or your own place in it comes up, we'd be glad to talk it through over coffee on Main Street.