Downtown Holiday Window Decorating Contest

I was recruited to be one of the judges of the Downtown Partnership's Holiday Window Decorating Contest. I used to do this sort of thing quite often when I was a radio dj. Now that I'm a 'behind the scenes' guy working in TV, the on-camera talent normally is dispatched to community related events like this. I'm only called into service when no one is available.

It was a very wintery day in Tucson today. I wore thermals under my jeans, a thick sweater under my coat, a scarf, gloves, and a wooly hat. Fortunately, the rain that had been going on and off all day had finally stopped by the time judging started around 5:30 p.m. There was a lot of walking around outside required and I had to deal with the elements. Tucson's weather is so nice most of the time it's pretty rare that dressing for winter-like conditions is necessary.

The top three in the window contest were ForsShop, Crescent Tobacco Shop, and Park Tucson. It was a tough decision since many window displays were well thought out and obviously had a tremendous amount of effort put into them. The winners received prizes including round trip airline tickets to any destination in the U.S., $1,000 worth of advertising on KGUN 9, and $100 gift card.

Here's some of the photos I shot during the walk around downtown and includes a few of the holiday displays.

Holographic Santa at MEB Management

Music themed display at Chicago Music Store

A smokin' holiday display
at Crescent Tobacco Shop

Brandi from the Downtown Partnership
and her daughter Emily,
and Joe who was the other judge.
This is inside Johnny Gibson's Market.

Winning display at ForsShop

A few fashionable outfits around the
Christmas tree at Hydra.

A woman was selling these cool looking hanging
lamps under a tent on the street

It's a Sparklegasm in the Krikawa window

Painted window display at Park Tucson.
The parking meters even had lights

Holiday display on the roof of Veg In A Box

Christmas village in the window
of the Fox Theatre

The Tucson Streetcar was even in the holiday spirit
with strings of garland and lights in the train windows.

Some sort of march or protest went by us headed west
on Congress Street.
I don't have a clue what they were marching for / protesting.

Tucson Police followed the protest march
down Congress Street

Heading back to the car walking north on Stone Avenue
after the judging.
This selfie is proof that I have a fat head
that could scare small children.