Cherry Hill Township holds a holiday light contest
December 24, 2020
One of the best parts of the holidays is getting to spend it with family and friends, and with COVID-19 this year, that means staying home for the holidays for many Cherry Hill families. Drinking hot cacao, decorating Christmas trees, and most importantly outdoor light decor are musts for a hometown holiday spending. Mayor Angulo and the Cherry Hill Township Council hosted their first annual holiday lights contest in Cherry Hill this year, ending on December 18 and winners being announced on January 4.
As COVID-19 has affected Cherry Hills in many ways at this moment in time, with restaurants closing for a while at the beginning of quarantine and schools remaining closed up until the reported January 15 date, many people have been stuck at home with families and trying their best to remain safe. The Cherry Hill Township Council explains that they realize many people will have trouble finding holiday joy due to COVID-19 and were looking to bring the community together in some sort of way this year.
With over 50 holiday light entries and 2,000 website visits, the township council felt that it was a smart choice to hold this year’s first annual holiday lights contest, as it just seemed natural to seek inspiration from Cherry Hill’s Halloween decorating contest held in October earlier this year. Having the knowledge that in-person gatherings are discouraged, the township council decided to continue hosting decorating contests into the holiday season.
“People can feel like they’re apart of a community,” says Erica Farrington. Farrington explains that even though COVID-19 is affecting Cherry Hill negatively right now, the township council wanted to put something together to keep the holiday spirit going throughout the town. Hoping to achieve that, the holiday light contest was made to encourage families to see glimmering community sights in a safe and convenient way.
Matt Baer of the Cherry Hill Township Council agrees with his coworker. “We wanted to bring the community together,” says Baer. Farrington and Baer hope that this event is something that will bring the Cherry Hill community joy and something to look forward to. They also exclaimed how the event is meant to be an interactive get together with family, as people can check out their map with every house entered in the competition on the Cherry Hill Township website and drive to entered houses without getting out of their car.
One contestant of the competition, Jeremy Noll has been decorating with his dad since he was a little kid. Now he is able to continue the tradition of decorating with his son. Noll said, “the best part of decorating is having my son walk around and see everything he is amazed by all the lights and decorations.”
Noll and his family continue to expand their inflatables collection each year. Even though the outside decorations at this house are spectacular there is one indoor decoration close to Noll’s heart. Noll has been adding on to his Peanuts Christmas theme decor since he was a child. He has been adding on to his collection every year since he was a child in the ‘80s.
The fun does not end there Noll and his neighbor have a friendly competition of who has the best setup and the best inflatables. Sadly Noll believes that his neighbor won the match this year.
No matter the winner of the competition, there are so many wonderfully lit houses to check out in your neighborhood and scattered all across Cherry Hill if you are searching for a way to get in the holiday spirit!
