GATLINBURG, Tenn. — If you've driven through Gatlinburg lately, you can't miss the thousands of smiling new faces.
Rows and rows of cheery-faced scarecrows line the roads, even more than the city's typical autumn decorations.
"A few years back, we started adding 3D scarecrows. The idea was, 'How can we grow that? How can we make it into something more?' It's grown to the point where we wondered, well what is the record for scarecrows?' We looked it up, and we thought it was attainable," said CVB Public Relations Manager Marci Claude.
The current record is held by English city, Burton-upon-Trent, with 3,812 scarecrows on display. Claude said they're hoping to beat the record with 4,000, but they won't know if they have enough until they conduct the official count on Monday.
Business owners are hoping the scarecrows don't scare away costumers.
"I mean who knew there was a record for the most scarecrows in a town," said Dan Booth, the owner of the Hayloft. "You know, we are just always trying to make something new for the visitor when they come. The little kids are loving the scarecrows."
"We're going to start at 7 a.m., and we're going to count all of the scarecrows on video in one swoop. It'll probably take about three hours. Then, we'll have a really good idea if we're going to make the record," Claude said.