Xmas Turns Technicolor In Newhallville

A Christmas house-decorating contest not only lit up Newhallville, but made the neighborhood feel ​“more like a neighborhood,” participants said.

Elaborate decorations went up outside dozens of homes in the neighborhood thanks to a
holiday lights contest hosted by the founder and president of local nonprofit The Perfect Blend Inc., Jeanette Sykes. 

Sykes encouraged her neighbors to decorate their homes for the holidays and register for the event to be entered in a judging contest. 

“I had to figure out how we could do something positive while socially distanced but while still getting to know our neighbors,” Sykes said. 

Decorations ranged from a few strings of lights to more than 20 inflatable designs at one property.

Sykes led six judges around the neighborhood Wednesday night to do a second and final round of judging. Homeowners joined the contest on Shelton Avenue and Goodyear, Star, Hazel, and Thompson Streets. 

As the judges canvassed the neighborhood, residents engaged with them, asking about the contest and shared how much they enjoyed seeing all of the decorations.

While on Pond Street judging a home, community organizer Hazel Williams invited Sykes inside to commit to joining the contest’s organizing committee next year.

“You wouldn’t believe how much joy this brings to people,” Williams said. 

Sykes plans to make the lights contest an annual event hosted by The Perfect Blend. Most of the homes entered in the contest sported a ​“Holiday Lighting Contest” yard sign. 

Williams previously hosted a small lights contest on Pond Street for 15 years, she said. She would award participants with gift cards and personalized decorations. ​“Some like to put them up while other people love to just look at them,” Williams said. 

Sykes and Williams agreed to begin advertising for the contest earlier next year to get more participation. 

For the inaugural event Wednesday, the judges went through the 25 registered houses and rated them on five categories; visual impact, craftsmanship, completeness/most creative, originality, and theme.

Hamden resident Stephanie Covington suggested bringing the contest to her town as well next year. Sykes agreed to invite Covington to the organizing committee meetings next year so Covington can lead hosting the contest in her neighborhood 

Sykes said community members from like Dixwell and Dwight have expressed interest in bringing the contest to their neighborhoods next year as well. ​“New neighborhood leaders can come from this,” she said. 

Sykes would like to get a party bus next year for judges to travel around the neighborhood together. For the Wednesday judging, the judges drove in separate cars and followed Sykes to each home. 

She is also considering the possibility of doing a public vote for next year’s contest via social media. 

Brandi Marshall and Kali Williams-Marshall took a break from frying shrimp for their son’s birthday Wednesday to receive praises from the judges outside their Winchester Avenue home. 

The Marshalls moved into their home 10 years ago. They usually decorate it each Christmas season with a few lights.

Due to the contest, they added more decorations this year. ​“We normally do something but we don’t do this much,” Williams-Marshall said. 

Their home was dressed in fence lights, candy canes, and a trio of penguins on the roof. 

The Marshalls said they enjoyed that the contest gave them the opportunity to drive around their own neighborhood and admire the other lit homes. 

“People always says that Newhallville doesn’t have much of a community, but we do,” Marshall said. ​“This finally lets people see that we’re a neighborhood just like theirs.” 

The Marshalls also decorated their backyard with lights for the holiday season. 

While at another home on Winchester Avenue, National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) President Dorthula​“Dottie” Green admired the symmetry with its lights, inflatable Santa and snowman, and Nativity centerpiece. 

“I love the balance and lights,” Green said. ​“It doesn’t have to be gaudy, just pleasing to the eye.” 

With less than ten homes left to judge, Green said the Winchester home jumped to her favorite so far. 

Thompson Street resident Crystal Beard-Morton got the judges’ attention Wednesday evening with yellow lights and more than 20 inflatable decorations hanging from her home windows and along her driveway. 

Beard-Morton lended inflatables and lights to her neighbors to encourage them to join the contest. She helped light up Thompson Street by helping her four neighbors decorate their homes. 

Decorating her home is a tradition for Beard-Morton, and not only during Christmas season. For the past 14 years she has decorated her property seasonally with inflatables and lights for several holidays throughout the year. 

“I love to see all of it make the kids happy. It light up people’s day,” Beard-Morton said. 

After having a stroke last year, Beard-Morton said, she used decorating her property as a form of self-expression and stress relief. 

Sykes plans to announce the top four winners Saturday. They will be in the running to win a new TV, a home security system, and a juicer machine.

The judges, members of NCWN, included Patricia Ross, Karen Sweeny, Mariam McCrary, and Cathy Sykes.

“You can see the pride this brought to the community,” Cathy said. ​“The effort brings a sense of safety and security to the neighborhood.”