The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Halloween decorating contest continues for second year
ONEIDA, N.Y. » Oneida is turning up the spooky again this year with its 2nd annual Halloween Decorating Contest.
The goal is to build community connections through friendly competition while also making Oneida a decoration destination. married residents Nicole and Rick Rossi have organized the event again this year, with a few new twists.
The premise this year is still the same: decorate your house, enter to be judged, and win prizes and glory. The rules this year, though, are slightly different. And now there are cash prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.
Rules
Competing properties must reside within Oneida City limits. It would be great to include more areas, Nicole said, but it’s a hard thing to achieve. Judging last year took 3-4 hours to hit every home, she recalled, with a train of vehicles following the same route. She hopes to get a bus again this year for efficiency, but that hasn’t been set in stone yet.
The judges this year will be selected from Oneida elementary schools. Each interested student in grades Prek-5 participated in a coloring contest, and from that pool of entries, 4 student judges will be randomly selected. A parent or guardian will accompany them in the judging process, and so may siblings or other family. Nicole said she’ll seek out more judges if needed.
The categories for judgment have expanded. It’s no longer just 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place — there’s now also “spookiest” “most creative” “cutest” and “classiest.” These categories will receive a framed certificate to show off their success. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will not qualify for these selections.
Only the exterior of homes will be judged. The entry period is from 10/1-10/25. Judging is on the 30th starting at 6 p.m. Winners are announced on Halloween.
Cash prizes and gift cards award the top 3. In cash,1st place gets $75, 2nd $30, and 3rd $20. The cash prizes were gifted by Nye Automotive. Gift card prizes of varying amounts for each winner were donated by Hipstir Cafe, The Blend, Oneida Barbershop, and Coneheads. 1st place will also receive a trophy.
How to enter
Email your home address to oneidatimeforchange@gmail.com by 10/25 at 10 p.m. No late entries will be allowed.
Last year’s competition, which may have been the first of its kind in the city (at least in a long time), grew substantial support. Nearly 30 houses competed in 2020, Nicole said, and it was a close race. Several of the houses were within one point of each other on the scoring system. As October approached in 2021, residents were already asking about this year’s competition. 16 houses have already
signed up, Nicole said, with more entries expected.
Last year’s winners were: Earl Scribner, 1st place. Heather Ryerston, 2nd place. Cassidy Thorton, 3rd place.
Starting next year, the 1st place winner will be invited to participate as a judge the following year and will not be able to enter the contest until the following year. This is to ensure winners can be spread out, Nicole said.
To get even more people in on the fun, the contest creators hope to outline a route of the entries for the public to visit on their own time.
The Rossi’s also plan to facilitate a Christmas decorating contest again this year.
For more information, contact oneidatimeforchange@gmail.com or join the private Facebook group, “Oneida For Change.”