I Had No Idea

I called City Hall a week or so ago and asked if they had a list of the houses that had entered the city's Halloween Decorating Contest. We had driven the grandkids around town last year to view the houses and wanted to repeat the trip. 

They asked if I was willing to serve as a judge. How hard could it be, I thought? Sure! My youngest granddaughter and I put on our Halloween headbands and talked grampa into driving us around.  

Who is the person on the right? It would be a homeowner accosting the judges to 1. ask us to come back after dark (it was dusk) and 2. To then walk us through his entire exhibit explaining each item placement. 

Our list had 18 houses and business and it took us over two and a half hours the first night to visit the first nine. 

It was a good thing she was wearing her Halloween pajamas. 

We had lengthy judging sheets with categories and numbered ratings.  

We judged on construction, theme, creativity and design.

Many homeowners were lying in wait so they could explain every detail. The house above had an elaborate system of piping on the ground which was connected to a smoke machine which just covered the ground with a low layer of smoke. I think he is crawling somewhere hooking it up for us. 

Some of the yards were a competition of who could spend the most on animated decor from the box stores. My husband kept daring me to write "Menards" and "Home Depot" as the theme. 

The next afternoon I was treated to an half hour tour of a local golf course who decorated all 18  holes and a few trees for the business category. It was a change as his wife had purchased clothing and masks at rummage and flea market sales and dressed the displays. 

Then we picked up my assistant judge and her younger brother and went back to work on the residential entries. 

This was quite elaborate as well as noisy. 

This house glowed for blocks away. 

This home had put in paths so you could walk through the whole yard. 

As you can tell, the photos are not in order of clicking. This was an entry in the DIY category. 

Another DIY entry and to make it even cuter, the children of the house were carving pumpkins in the driveway. 

This homeowner explained that he had switched from white bulbs in his spotlights to blue bulbs for a more eerie feeling. 

One of the homes that really likes the blowup decorations.

And can you tell that they are all starting to mush in my brain?

I think this came in second in DIY? I'm not sure. 

So, we spent over 5 hours driving around looking at the decorations and lights and listening to sound effects and speaking with decorators. We would drop off the assistants and I would spend another half hour each night with my paperwork. 

I thought I could just drop off the paperwork but it turned out I spent another 45 minutes being interviewed about my scores.  My results were put with other judges and placings were announced the next day.  I have no idea who was awarded what.  

Next year will we will go back to plan A - which was driving around admiring the decorations just for fun!!!