"Scarecrows are Coming Back to Hallowell." That was the title on Water Street Hallowell's 2024 promo video. A companion festival video that year announced an October 19 start at 10 a.m. Two years later, the organizer's gallery of 2025 scarecrows still has one labeled "Juiced." The downtown café closed on January 17, 2026.
So a scarecrow on Water Street does more than decorate. It shows that a business, a group or a family was here this fall and cared enough to stuff a flannel shirt. If you set the 2025 gallery beside this year's lineup, you get a record of the street that no directory keeps. The rest of Hallowell's October calendar adds to that record. One talk shows the town in 19th-century photographs. Another asks what should become of two of its oldest civic buildings.
What's standing on Water Street through November 4
Scarecrow City runs from September 21 to November 4. Businesses, organizations and individuals put up scarecrows along Water Street. The display is hosted by The Rusticator's Emporium, and you vote for your favorite at the shop itself. The Emporium is a multi-vendor shop of vintage items and eclectic goods at 151 Water Street, owned by Lexi and Sam Joyall.
Because the ballot box sits inside a store, you have a reason to step off the sidewalk partway through the walk. If you want to add a scarecrow of your own, the Rusticator's Emporium submission page is the place to start. Organizers say more details will be posted as they become available.
The display has settled into a pattern. The festival has fallen on a Saturday in mid-October three years running:
| Year | Festival date | Where it was listed |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Saturday, October 19 | Water Street Hallowell promo video |
| 2025 | Saturday, October 18 | The Hallowell Champion, Fall 2025 issue |
| 2026 | Saturday, October 17, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Water Street Hallowell events calendar |
This year's festival brings backyard games, a mini-market and food trucks to downtown.
The Juiced scarecrow and the year between
The 2025 gallery shows how much one year can change on the street. Its photos include scarecrows labeled for Juiced and for Lady J's, the shop known as Lady J's Beyond Bridal at 104 Water Street. Lady J's has stayed busy. In April it promoted an Easter celebration and a town-wide hidden-egg prize hunt, with prizes donated by local businesses. Madison Chapman told WABI it was a reason to visit downtown.
Juiced did not make it to this fall. The Kennebec Journal reported on January 6, 2026 that the café would close January 17. Its mother-and-son owners, Barbara Niccoli-Hiltz and Jeremy Ashlock, announced the closure on Facebook. No reliable report says what is in the space now, so that question is open for anyone walking past.
Change on Water Street is not only about closings. The Local Scoop was running under new owners by summer 2026, with ice-cream nachos and an offer to serve ice cream in a customer's own Stanley cup. The Joyalls' shop at 151 Water Street, meanwhile, now hosts the whole display. A scarecrow walk this October is a quiet way to see who is here now.
Pair the walk with the night's music
The scarecrows stay up after dark, and the street's live music follows a weekly schedule. Water Street Hallowell's music listing for September 28 to October 4 gives a reliable outline, though several venues post their exact lineups week to week. In street-number order, with Easy Street just off Water Street on Front Street:
- Easy Street Lounge, 7 Front Street. Tuesday Night Jazz Lab runs 8 to 11 p.m. Scolded Dogs played at 8:30 p.m. that week.
- The Liberal Cup, 115 Water Street. Live music usually on Sundays, 5 to 8 p.m.
- The Maine House, 119 Water Street. Live music usually on Fridays and Saturdays, 7 to 10 p.m. The Maine House has also brought back its seasonal frozen apple-cider cocktail, topped with a mini cider doughnut from Bolley's. Check with the bar on whether it's pouring the night you go.
- Quarry Tap Room, 122 Water Street. Travis James Humphrey's plays Thursdays, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays bring live music from 5 to 8 p.m. and a DJ from 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Sundays have live music from noon to 3 p.m.
- Slate's Restaurant, 168 Water Street. Duos on Mondays from 6 to 8 p.m. and solo performers on Fridays and Saturdays from 5:30 to 8 p.m. The weekly schedule goes up on Facebook.
The Rusticator's Emporium at 151 Water Street sits between the Quarry Tap Room and Slate's. A Friday walk from The Maine House to Slate's goes right past the ballot box.
October's other inventory is about old buildings
The same week as the festival, two events turn the town's attention from storefronts to its history and civic buildings.
On Thursday, October 8, from 6 to 8 p.m., Maine State Historian Earle Shettleworth presents a collection of rare 19th-century photographs of Hallowell at the Hubbard Free Library, 115 Second Street. For anyone who has just walked the scarecrow line, it is the same street seen from more than a century back.
Thursday, October 15, has two events in a row. At 5 p.m., the City of Hallowell hosts a presentation on restoring and repurposing the Hallowell Town House and Fire Station. The city's listing gives no further details on the project. From 6 to 8 p.m., the Hubbard holds a genealogy workshop on its free genealogy resources, which are open to the public.
The riverbank is also under study. Maine awarded Hallowell a $74,736 resilience grant for downtown riverbank planning, with a performance period from May 15, 2025, to May 14, 2027. The work plan covers community engagement and nature-based design recommendations for the downtown shoreline between Granite City Park and the boat landing. It plans for possible future work and does not describe construction already underway.
Festival Saturday and the rest of the month
October 17 starts at the library before it moves to the street:
| Time | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 10 to 11 a.m. | Hands-On at the Hubbard | Hubbard Free Library, 115 Second Street |
| 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Hallowell Scarecrow Festival, organized by Rusticator's Emporium | Downtown Hallowell |
| Evening | Weekend music at The Maine House, Quarry Tap Room and Slate's | Water Street |
The hour at the Hubbard ends just as the festival gets going, so families can do both without rushing. By late afternoon, the weekend sets at Quarry Tap Room start at 5 p.m. and Slate's follows at 5:30.
Halloween falls on a Saturday this year. Easy Street Lounge at 7 Front Street is hosting "WWW: Wizards, Witches and Warlocks," a Halloween party with Spacey Jones. The scarecrows stay up four more days after that and come down with the display's November 4 end date.
Whichever scarecrows line Water Street this month will be next year's gallery. If you own a home or building near downtown Hallowell and want to know how this year's changes on the street affect its value, Hoang Realty follows Water Street all year and is glad to talk it over. Start Your Search with us.
