Get out your garlands, your baubles and boughs, your red ribbons and holly, shopkeepers: The East Hampton Star Holiday Spirit decorating contest debuts in November.
We invite store managers, landlords, and window-dressers of Main Street and Newtown Lane to pull out all the stops this season with their exterior decorations — in the spirit of making sure that the village's central business district presents its most appealing face during the chilly months.
A panel of judges from a variety of East Hampton nonprofits will take to the sidewalks on Saturday, Nov. 30 — the Saturday immediately after Thanksgiving — to determine a winner. The business with the most appealing exterior holiday decor will receive a commemorative plaque, a gift basket of swag, and a profile in The Star (plus the warm feeling that comes with having done something positive for the community).
The contest is for exterior decorations or window decorations of any sort, providing, of course, that they are in accord with East Hampton Village code. Other than avoiding anything that breaks a signage or sidewalk-cluttering code, there are no particular rules that must be followed by participants in The Star Holiday Spirit contest. The only criteria will be charm and originality.
Faithful readers may remember that we announced our intention to run this contest back in January, spurred on by a letter to the editor from James R. Weldon of East Hampton, who decried a December lack of what he called "warmth" and floated the idea that this newspaper sponsor such a contest. Mr. Weldon's letter struck a chord: Who isn't fatigued by the tiresome annual return of empty store windows and "See You in Spring" signs? Even among those shops that remain open in the off-season, relatively few have done much seasonal gussying in recent decades compared with decades past.
We believe in animatronic Santas, eucalyptus wreaths, and giant dreidels.
We believe these things are good for business, as well as good for the community's soul.
Excellent progress has actually been made in the business district this year, in terms of reviving a feeling of vitality. We do miss the businesses that left as a result, but Jay Eastman, the owner of Eastman Way, deserves a hearty handshake for taking the initiative and transforming his property with new food options (Amber Waves, Smoky Buns) and seating, as well as the visual enticement of attractive plantings in that previously rather stark and minimalist alley behind Starbucks. Word is that the first Anchor Society Winter Shop, an off-season pop-up, will open its doors on Main Street at mid-month, too. Things are moving in the right direction. Let's keep up the momentum with merrier, brighter, warmer December windows.
It's on!