Date: Fri 22-Dec-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

Christmas-Decoration-Contest

Full Text:

with cuts: Holiday Decoration Contest Winners Add Sparkle To The Season

The three judges for The Newtown Bee's Holiday Decoration Contest hit the road

Monday, and 75 miles and 4« hours later they came up with the winners in the

contest's two categories.

The judges, artist Larry Newquist, Town Clerk Cindy Curtis, and business woman

Diana Johnson, judged the top nighttime display to be at the Button Ball Drive

home of the Greenley family and the top daytime display to be at the Berkshire

Road home of Lucille Sheehan.

All the judges agreed that the lights and decorations at McLaughlin Vineyards

on Albert's Hill Road, were extraordinary and in a class by themselves.

Because it is a commercial enterprise, the vineyard and winery decorations

were deem ineligible for contest prizes, but the display clearly won the

hearts of the judges. (The public can see the vineyard in all its Christmas

glory on Friday evening, from 6 to 8 pm, when sleigh rides will be offered.)

The Winners

Roxanne Greenley of 16 Button Ball Drive says her husband, Richard, and

daughter, Tiffany, did all the work on the display, which had a Candyland

theme. Mrs Greenley said her contribution was the lollipops. Father and

daughter, she said, worked very hard on the decorations. "They worked two full

weekends and every night during the last week to get the display ready."

Richard had to overcome his fear of heights to get some of the lights up on

the house, she said.

The Greenley's unveil their decorations each year by inviting neighbors out

for a yard lighting, complete with Christmas carols and plenty of good cheer.

This year, the big night was December 1. Mrs Greenley says each night a number

of cars drive slowly by the house, having heard about the display by word of

mouth or having seen the Greenley's impressive Halloween decorations last in

October.

Lucille Sheehan of 268 Berkshire Road was flabbergasted when she saw a Bee

photographer in her front yard taking a photo of her winning daytime display.

"I didn't think I had a chance," she said. "But when I was finished putting up

all the decorations, I thought it looked nice so I entered anyway."

The display centers on a large deer that stands in front of the porch that

extends across the front of her one-story house. "The deer is made of concrete

and steel and is so heavy that it took three of us to put him there," she

said.

Mrs Sheehan works at a nearby convent in the Stevenson area of Monroe and

intends to bring the nuns to her house to see the display.

Other Notable Entries

While they did not win the top prize, there were several other notable entries

in the Holiday Decoration Contest. One favorite was the Rosato residence at 37

Berkshire Road at the intersection with Toddy Hill Road. A whimsical Rudolph,

complete with blinking red nose, sits atop the house.

One of the most welcoming displays can be seen at the Genovese residence at 26

Baldwin, where the window boxes and interesting architectural features of the

home (a converted barn) and a tree in the yard are all drawn together with

decoration.

The Loring residence at 9 Cobblestone Lane looked like a jewel box with white

lights outlining the house and an arched window with a sparkling interior

Christmas tree showing through the window.

Way out on Beagle Trail, off New Lebbon Road, the Lynch family had done their

house up nicely with Christmas lights, including a cosmic Santa Claus

pulsating in front of the front upstairs window. The driveway is also lined

with colored lights.

Several entries took a more classical approach to decoration, including the

Jung residence at 6 Overlook Drive. The Colonial style home was decorated with

glowing candles in the windows and white lights in the trees and on the back

fence.

The judges noted that there were many other fine displays around town that had

not formally entered the contest, and they recommended that anyone looking for

an extra measure of Christmas spirit this year take a nighttime drive around

Newtown.