Zone 18
No. 14 Vol. 1
New View Media Group • 1-800-691-7549
January 16, 2018
Holidays Brighten For New Homeowner Named Winner Of First Annual Decorating Contest
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By Elsie Walker ich Singer and his wife Laura Ferretti are new to Hill Court in Pompton Lakes, but after this past Christmas, their home is well known to the area. Using 250 boxes of lights, Singer created a wonderland that caused many people to come by and take pictures. It also earned him the first annual Pompton Lakes Get Lit grand prize. The town-wide decorating contest was the brainchild of long time Pompton Lakes resident, Laura Jennings. After creating a marketing plan and a Facebook page, she said, “It took off from there.” The purpose
was to highlight all the town has to offer: its shops, its restaurants and its community spirit. The contest had judges, businesses that contributed to the contest prize basket, but in the end Jennings noted that it was really a “community of judges” as people actively posted on Facebook about their favorites. “Ultimately, we went with the will of the crowd,” said Jennings. “We’ll always have a judging committee to do the prize presentation, but the community voting on Facebook will remain an important element in our decision making process.” Entering the con-
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test was easy. Actually, people could be in the running and not even know it. The only criteria were that a person had his/her house extravagantly decorated. Jennings noted that judging was finalized the Wednesday before Christmas. Anyone who had lights up by that day was considered. Jennings said people would post pictures on Facebook of houses they thought should be considered. Those included a “Festivus” house by the lake, and a house that had alternating trees and flamingos over by Hershfield Park. “Another home had nearly every zoo animal you could think of in Santa hats on the front lawn,” she said. “One thing I was really impressed by was the difference a few flood lights could make. Some homes that were really quite simply decorated made great use of very few
lights. It made everything pop!” However, it was Singer’s home that Jennings described as being “completely covered by lights,” that proved to be most popular. Singer noted that he worked a few hours a night for a week to put up the lights. While he used 25,000 bulbs, his goal was to make the display “bright, but classy.” He noted the care with which he did it. “The windows are framed and the lines are precise,” he said. Singer said he loved when people would come by to look at the house and take pictures. Of course, another joy was in winning the grand prize. Jennings shared that the prize included items donated by a number of local businesses and two local artists. Mack’s American Bar and Grill, Tony’s Touch of Italy, The Cardinal Café, Home Field Advantage, Selenita’s
Pompton Lakes resident Rich Singer receives a surprise at his door: The grand prize gift basket for winning the first annual Pompton Lakes Gets Lit. Restaurant, R&M Hardware, Pompton Lakes Bakery, Boniello’s and Elite Training Center all donated gift certificates to the winner. Local artists Bianca Boniello of B Boards and Melissa Pardalis of Oh So Crafty by Melissa each made a cardinal themed piece for the basket. As this year’s winner, Singer will be one of next
year’s judges. Although that means he can’t compete next year, it hasn’t stopped him from thinking of what he’ll do to decorate. He has shared that he plans to spend around $1,000 on holiday lights next year and has already started shopping. “Everything is on sale,” he said. “Now is the time to shop.”