With Halloween right around the corner, scarecrows are popping up around Palmerton, especially along Delaware Avenue.

This year celebrates the Palmerton Area Chamber of Commerce's sixth annual Scarecrow Time, when Palmerton residents and businesses are encouraged to decorate their homes and storefronts with personalized scarecrows. Local businesses often take the opportunity to decorate their scarecrow to showcase their wares."The whole idea of this is to promote Palmerton and our downtown area," said Joan S. Turko of the Palmerton Area Chamber of Commerce.Scarecrows have been springing up in front of numerous businesses in the past few weeks, with some highlights including Bert's Steakhouse's always popular "Nightmare Before Christmas" setup, along with a Blue Bomber to boot."I'm a big sports fan, so I made the Bomber. My kids have played football. One of the coaches, last year or the year before, gave me an old football uniform," Bert's owner Tracey Downing said. "We all love Jack and Sally, and actually, one of our customers made the dog for us."The incredible amount of detail on the Jack and Sally scarecrows have always prompted customers to inquire where they could get their own."People have offered to buy Jack, ask me where I bought him so they could go buy it, and they want to buy Sally," Downing said. "But we didn't buy them anywhere, we made them. My cook drew the faces on Sally and Jack, and I sewed all the material. We've had them for years."Other institutions have opted to craft their scarecrows to match their specialty, such as Joe's Place, which features a straw-stuffed gentleman enjoying a wooden sub sandwich. My Store features a man and woman decked out in Carhartt coats and jeans, ready for the chilly autumn."We have been very lucky, and we have some very talented people," Turko said.If any business or person needs a stand for their scarecrow, Turko encourages them to contact Brian Billig at Palmerton Lumber Company at 610-826-2323. A fee will be charged for the service.So, when you get a chance in the next few weeks, enjoy a brisk autumn walk along Delaware Avenue and around town, check out some scarecrows, and take a peek in the stores and restaurants that they are promoting.After all, these scarecrows aren't here to scare customers away.