By Renee Wood
The joy of Christmas is sometimes searching for all the beautiful creations people come up with to spread some cheer.
Well Lilydale, just a couple of towns over Healesville is doing just that with a little bit of Christmas in shop fronts and windows.
The Healesville Rotary Club has launched its Christmas Window Competition, inviting local traders to dress up their stores for the holidays.
President Ian Vine said it’s something both business owners and locals look forward to seeing every year.
“It’s something that we sponsored by providing some recognition through the process and inviting the public to nominate windows,” Mr Vine said.
But this year more than ever, it’s hoped the decorations will bring much joy and put the festive spirit in the air, after such a tough year for businesses.
“Hopefully, it becomes a circular thing where people are interested in the windows and the window shopping leads to more traffic, to start to rebuild social and community involvement in the main street after so many months of being away from it all.”
In the competition’s fifth year, it’s also starting to take on the form of a local tradition.
“It builds community spirit and it helps conglomerate the feeling of the festive season.
“Christmas is all about traditions, so we’re trying to keep something that started a few years ago going, so people see continuity building and it supports local business along the way.”
It will be a tight contest with decorations already starting to go up, Mr Vine said there’s usually a number of hot contenders.
“Come the beginning of December, hopefully we can see a third of the businesses take part, and that will be a bit of an increase on previous years.”
The winners will be chosen through the community’s participation, with shoppers encouraged to nominate their favourite display through the Healesville Rotary Club’s website.
The winners will be calculated by the number of nominations received and the committee’s votes.
First and second prize, $300 and $200 respectively, have been donated by the Rotary Club and third prize of $100 has been supported by the Bendigo Bank, with gift cards of those amounts to be purchased from the winning stores for Rotary’s raffles and auctions throughout the year.
Retailers who haven’t yet decorated, can still do so, with nominations open from Wednesday 1 December to Tuesday 14 December.
To nominate your favourite festive window, visit https://www.rotaryhealesville.org/xmas
