{"id":643010,"date":"2026-08-18T05:27:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T05:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/643010\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T05:27:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T05:27:24","slug":"pick-the-winner-from-5-new-straw-sculptures-at-mt-morris-event-shaw-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/643010\/","title":{"rendered":"Pick the winner from 5 new straw sculptures at Mt. Morris event \u2013 Shaw Local"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">The Campus Square in downtown <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shawlocal.com\/tags\/mt-morris\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.shawlocal.com\/tags\/mt-morris\/\">Mt. Morris<\/a> has five new creations posed and ready for judging in the 11th annual <a href=\"https:\/\/strawusa.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/strawusa.com\/\">U.S. National Straw Sculpting Competition<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">Five entries are positioned along Wesley Avenue as part of the annual event that culminates Aug. 22 with a full day of events.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">But visitors can come see the creations this week and cast their votes for their favorite.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">Straw creations this year are:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"list__StyledUnorderedList-sc-1wwq737-2 dtNRMI\">\n<li class=\"list__StyledListItem-sc-1wwq737-0 ePljqz\">\u201cWellers Woods Gnome\u201d by Chris and Cecilia Mann of Rockford<\/li>\n<li class=\"list__StyledListItem-sc-1wwq737-0 ePljqz\">\u201cMother Earth\u201d by Steve Lentz of Montello, Wisconsin<\/li>\n<li class=\"list__StyledListItem-sc-1wwq737-0 ePljqz\">\u201cHay-Land Coo\u201d by Doreen Hartman of Mt. Morris<\/li>\n<li class=\"list__StyledListItem-sc-1wwq737-0 ePljqz\">\u201cThe Tree of Life\u201d by Bobbi Hanna, Fran Volz, Kelsey, Godsden, Oren, Ronan of Oregon<\/li>\n<li class=\"list__StyledListItem-sc-1wwq737-0 ePljqz\">\u201cMt. Cheddarest\u201d (In the Swiss Alps) by Danica and Mark Rogers of Rochelle<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">Visitors can vote for their favorite this week up until 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 22.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ImageMetadata__MetadataParagraph-sc-1gn0vty-0 ijEZZk image-metadata\">\u201cHay-Land Coo\u201d by Doreen Hartman, of Mt. Morris, is one of five straw sculptures that members of the public can vote on at the U.S. National Straw Sculpting Competition in Mt. Morris. The winners of this year&#8217;s competition will be announced at the conclusion of StrawFest 2026 on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (Earleen Hinton)<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">Saturday\u2019s events include a 5K, live music, the straw bale race, and the announcement of the winners of the 2026 competition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">Proceeds from the 5K race will be used to benefit Encore and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shawlocal.com\/tags\/oregon-community-unit-school-district-220\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.shawlocal.com\/tags\/oregon-community-unit-school-district-220\/\">Oregon High School<\/a> cross country team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">The straw bale race pits two-person teams (ages high school and above) in a timed race to see who can roll the 700-pound bale down Wesley Avenue the fastest. The winning team will receive $50 cash.<\/p>\n<p>Saturday\u2019s schedule<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">8 to 10 a.m.: StrawFest Strut 5K (first annual)<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">10 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Blacksmith demonstrations<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">10 a.m to 7 p.m.: Mechanical bull rides<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">Noon to 2 p.m.: Kids\u2019 games and Straw Art &amp; Crafts<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">12:30 to 2 p.m.: Straw Jam Music<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">2 to 3 p.m.: Straw Bale Street Races (registration at 1:30 p.m.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">2 to 4 p.m.: Historical Museum and Encore! Art Gallery<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">3 to 4:30 p.m.: Straw Jam Music<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">3 to 5 p.m.: Kids\u2019 games and Straw Art &amp; Crafts<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">4 p.m.: Straw voting ends<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">5 to 6:30 p.m.: Straw Jam Music<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">6:30 to 9 p.m.: Historical Museum and Encore! Art Gallery<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">6:55 p.m.: Straw sculpting awards announced<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">7 to 9 p.m.: Grass Attack (bluegrass) at the bandshell<\/p>\n<p>Prizes<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">The sculptures are composed of at least 90% straw on the surface. Minimal spray paint is allowed for highlights or shadowing. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">They must be at least 6 feet, 6 inches in height, in length, or in width and constructed to withstand high winds and rain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">Cash prizes are awarded to winners of the public voting and artist voting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">The sculptures become property of ENCORE! Mt. Morris if the cash award is accepted by the artist.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">The U.S. National Straw Sculpting Competition started in Rochelle in 2016, after artist Fran Volz of Rochelle visited the small village of H\u00f6chenschwand, Germany, which hosts an annual straw-sculpting competition that draws thousands of visitors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-xb1qmn-0 gBIiEi body-paragraph\">The event moved to Mt. Morris in 2017, where it is hosted by Encore! Mt. Morris.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Campus Square in downtown Mt. Morris has five new creations posed and ready for judging in the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[267],"tags":[365,362,363,364,366,18,117,27934,19,17,266384,266385,8244,272027,102603],"class_list":["post-643010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-festival","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mt-morris","tag-ogle-county","tag-oregon","tag-sauk-valley","tag-shaw-local-front-headlines"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117114859841171634","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}