Scooby Doo, where are you? Coupeville.

Ruh-roh! Something spooky is happening in Coupeville: Scooby-Doo and his friends have taken over through the end of October.

Amid the skeletons, hay and scarecrows on the streets is an even sillier surprise — many businesses and organizations in downtown Coupeville, including the United Methodist Church and even the town council, joined in on this year’s hilarious theme.

Every year, the Coupeville Chamber of Commerce hosts a themed Halloween scarecrow competition for Coupeville businesses and organizations. In past years, Coupeville has featured themes like Beetlejuice, The Addams Family and more.

This year’s scarecrow competition was no less competitive, funny or creative.

Mother and son duo Vickie and Christian Chambers were thrilled to participate this year. Christian owns two shops on Front Street, Aqua Gifts and The Laughing Admiral, both in ideal locations for the contest. Having participated for 22 years, they said they never miss a chance to join in the Halloween spirit.

“It’s just a fun event in October, such a great month in our town. We want to be a part of it,” Vickie said.

With Christian handling the design and Vickie doing the painting, their Scooby-Doo characters riding in the iconic Mystery Van came to life after several days of work. The pair took first place two years ago for their Wednesday Addams design, they said, and still showcase the design inside of The Laughing Admiral on Halloween, Christian said.

Ever since the pair won the contest their very first year in Coupeville, with a plumber scarecrow featuring a pumpkin butt, they’ve been riding their bragging rights high ever since.

Once the Coupeville Chamber of Commerce announces the annual theme, it’s just a matter of researching recognizable characters and details before letting the creativity flow, Vickie explained.

A Touch of Dutch European Market, also located on Front Street, joined in the Scooby-Doo fun by displaying Scooby characters outside their windows with humorous speech bubbles that read “Jeepers! It’s the lost Dutchman,” and “Stay tuned for the mystery of the half-eaten stroopwafel…”

“It’s just a nice thing that the town does,” owner Adam Regam said.

Regam involves his employees in the creative process almost every year, and said this year was no different.

“They had a great time just putting the whole thing together,” Regam said.

The Coupeville Town Council even got in on the Scooby-Doo action by decorating a van and displaying their own faces on the characters in the window.

During a State of the Town address, Mayor Molly Hughes said she’s long referred to the town’s old camera van, recognizable by its blue stripes, as the “Scooby-Doo van.”

“For ten years, that’s what I’ve called it,” she said.

So when the idea came up to transform the van for this year’s Scooby-Doo–themed festivities, staff asked if they could decorate the real one, Hughes explained.

“I told them, ‘Go for it.’ It sounded like a great plan,” Hughes said.

Town employees worked on the project during lunch breaks and on Fridays, when the office closes early, and she said many people joined in on the fun.

While many businesses embraced the Scooby theme, every store downtown has found its own way to celebrate Halloween. Spider webs are draped from windows, scarecrows perch on signs, skeletons hang from walls and shops are adorned in orange and black colors, proving Coupeville’s Halloween spirit is alive and well.

Maps for each Scooby location are available at the Visitor Center. Participating scarecrows have posted barcodes that visitors can scan to vote for their favorites.

Photo by Marina Blatt The United Methodist Church in Coupeville created scarecrow versions of Scooby, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Fred in front of a cutout of the Mystery Machine van.