Calling all Morristown businesses…it’s time to show your holiday spirit!
The first annual Walking Tour of Windows contest is challenging merchants to make downtown “one of the most family friendly destinations” anywhere for the holidays–which officially kick off with Santa’s arrival at the Christmas Festival on the Green on Nov. 26 and climax with First Night Morris County on New Year’s Eve. In between are 10 performances of The Nutcracker by the New Jersey Ballet at the Community Theatre.
Suggested themes for storefront displays include:
- Santa (think Thomas Nast)
- International Holiday Celebration
- Winter Wonderland
- Historic Holiday
Participating stores will be featured online by MorristownGreen.com and the Morris County Tourism Bureau.
Merchants with the best displays (as chosen by the public and the Arts Council of the Morris Area) will be recognized onstage at the Community Theatre prior to the Dec. 19 performance of The Nutcracker.
Which only seems fitting, since the contest idea started there.
Allison Larena, president of the theater, “just thought that when people come to our theater to see a performance, they should know about all the wonderful things going on in town over the holidays, and make a day of it,” said Ed Kirchdoerffer, theater general manager.
“I’m hoping businesses will join in the fun,” said Jennifer Wehring of the Morristown Partnership, a sponsor of the contest along with the Tourism Bureau, the Arts Council and The Mayo Center for the Performing Arts at the Community Theatre.
“We need to lean on each other in these hard economic times,” Jennifer said. “So the more, the merrier.”
“It’s just adding arts visibility to the downtown. Window dressing and staging is considered an art form,” said the Arts Council’s Kadie Dempsey, who organized a succesful Halloween pumpkin illumination last week and is helping with a Morristown gallery walk on Nov. 16.
Halloween events proved so popular in Morristown that the county Tourism Bureau is hoping the momentum carries over to the windows contest and draws visitors downtown, said Carol Barkin, program manager for the bureau.
“It’s a lovely project that adds another dimension to Morristown’s efforts to highlight the holiday season,” said Leslie Bensley, tourism executive director.
Shoppers who vote for their favorite windows will be eligible for gift certificates from the Morristown Partnership. Business operators with the best windows can win tickets to a future performance at the Community Theatre, and to the Arts Council’s New Jersey Symphony concert at Giralda Farms next June and Morristown walking tours sponsored by the Tourism Bureau.
All participating merchants will receive two tickets to the December 19th performance of The Nutcracker, and an invitation to a post-holiday celebration at the Community Theatre.
The deadline to register is Nov. 15. Windows must be decorated by Nov. 26. Judging is scheduled for Dec. 19, with winners announced prior to the 6 pm performance of The Nutcracker. Download a registration form here.
