BERLIN – Ocean Pines kicked off its annual “Light up the Pines” contest with 15 brightly lit entries last week.
“The Light up the Pines contest gives residents and businesses a chance to show off their outdoor decorating skills for the holidays and it gives the community a cozy, festive feel as you drive through the Pines at night,” said Teresa Travatello, the Ocean Pines Association’s marketing director.
For the first time this year, residents interested in viewing the participating homes can download a map indicating where in the community each is located. After they have driven by the homes, residents can vote for their favorites. Winners will be named in four categories — most creative, top notch, most lights and people’s choice.
Travatello said she has been organizing the contest as long as she has worked for the association. She said that her first years there, she began getting calls from concerned residents when it was announced that the Ocean Pines Chamber of Commerce would no longer be hosting the decorating contest. The Ocean Pines Association took it over and it’s enjoyed success ever since, she said.
“My favorite part is when people start sending in their votes,” she said.
Last year, Travatello counted more than 200 votes.
People interested in voting this year have several options. They can email their choices to [email protected], text their choices to 443-397-0585 or vote via online survey at www.oceanpines.org. The voting deadline is Jan. 1.
Lee and Barbara Phillips have been participating in the contest for years. In fact, their home — identifiable by the giant 25-foot candy cane in the front yard — won in three of the contest’s four categories last year. Lee Phillips, who starts putting up lights Dec. 1, says it takes three people and a pulley attached to a pine tree to get the handmade candy cane in place each year.
“I made it myself,” Phillips said. “It looks like a real candy cane.”
Other features of the yard include Santa and his reindeer and a manger scene.
In all, the couple spends four days decorating their Ocean Parkway home for Christmas. While he is outside tinkering with light bulbs and strings and setting timers, his wife is inside baking cookies.
“She makes 15 different kinds of cookies,” Phillips said.
While their holiday efforts might sound exhausting, Phillips said the tasks give them something to do in the winter. Though people have urged Phillips to set up a collection box for donations to help him cover his electricity costs, he says it’s something he has never considered.
“I don’t do it for money that wouldn’t be any fun,” he said. “It’s just something we enjoy doing.”
Participating Homes
13 Sloop Lane
29 Liberty St.
68 Tail of the Fox Drive
122 Camelot Circle
28 Moonshell Drive
714 Ocean Parkway
5 Oxford Court
63 Boston Drive
110 Windjammer Road
76 Ocean Parkway
5 Dinghy Court
6 Sand Trap Court
8 Village Way
169 Ocean Parkway
33 Whaler Lane