Fifteen smiling faces stand to greet residents and visitors to the Timber Ridge subdivision in North Hall.

The close-knit neighborhood of winding streets and bungalow-style summer lake homes has its entrance decorated with smiling scarecrows for fall, thanks to the efforts of The Link, an organization of neighborhood women who help out their little community.

The idea is partly inspired by last year's effort in Hoschton to break the Guinness World Record for the largest number of scarecrows. Longtime Timber Ridge resident Agnes Hamilton said members of The Link took the idea in a different direction, instead trying to create scarecrows that best represented their friends' personalities.

The women put all their names in a pot, drawing the name of the person their scarecrow would honor. At 10 a.m. On Oct. 10, the ladies gathered to reveal their scarecrow projects, which were kept under wraps until then.

"That girl, she used to work for the Chamber (of Commerce) and she plays tennis," said Hamilton, 64, as she pointed out the various characteristics of her friends now found on the scarecrows. "The one I did, the golfer, she is an amateur golfer and she's very, very good. That's me in the purple T-shirt, a cancer survivor."

There is also a baker, holding a whisk and a pie tin, a scarecrow walking her dog and one who is a rabid University of Georgia Fan.

And despite the recent rains, all the wigs and scarecrow outfits are still neatly in place.

Well, almost.

"Mine is the one with the pearls and the lipstick, but the lipstick ran," said fellow resident Mary Lee Branch, 57, who has owned a home in the neighborhood since the 1980s. "But we had fun doing it. It was a fun thing to do."

Hamilton said The Link serves as, literally, a link between the neighborhood association board and the residents, helping out with fundraising for things such as a new pool cover or supporting the neighbors. At the start of December the women will gather to make baskets for all the neighbors who have had struggles this past year, and they will also make some for local firefighters and police officers, too.

"We just take care of each other," Hamilton said. "We just do stuff that needs doing."

Last year, Halloween decorations around the area were pretty sparse. But this year, Hamilton agreed, there is a feeling of rising up and enjoying the holidays, no matter what.

Just as the smiling scarecrows help lift residents' spirits as they drive through the entrance gate.

"People are getting their head above water and getting their spirits back," she said. "It is coming up, much better."