Light Up Cape May winners

By Jessica Leeburg December 11, 2015

Cape May is beautiful at Christmastime, but in recent years there has been a decline in the number of houses decorated for the holidays. Why the drop? In part, it’s because we lose bed and breakfasts every season to the whole-house rental trend, reducing the number of year-round innkeepers to decorate the Victorian houses for the holidays. The summer rentals, many of them once well-loved B&Bs that I still call by name, often sit dormant through the winter months.

But the Chamber of Commerce and the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts want to change that. This year, they held their annual Light Up Cape May contest to help re-invigorate our holiday season by awarding prizes for the Best Door, Best Residence, Best Business, Best Block, and Best Overall holiday lights. There were 38 total entries in this year’s contest.

I had the pleasure of serving as a judge in this year’s competition (an actual life-long dream), along with our company president. One of MAC’s red trolleys wound a carefully mapped path through town, driving past the entries, pausing in front of each for commentary and photographs. My fellow judges were Ronnie Town, Atlantic City Electric; City Councilman Shaine Meier; Freeholder E. Marie Hayes; John Allison, The Grand Hotel; John Zappas; and Jack Fichter. Ron Goldstein, Doreen Talley, Tracie Cicchitti, Carolinn Pocher Woody, Eliza Lotozo and Mary Stewart made up this year’s committee. We were proud to sponsor this year’s contest along with Atlantic City Electric and the Grand Hotel.

And now, the winners.

Best Overall

Albert Stevens Inn, 127 Myrtle

albert-stevens-inn

Best Business

Dormer House, 800 Columbia Ave

Runners up:
Mason Cottage, 623 Columbia Ave.
Louisa’s Café, 104 Jackson St.

Best Residential

Cottrell Home, 922 Washington St

922Wash-right

Runners up:
Kirk Home, 213 Perry St.
Vogelsong Home, 110 Central Ave.

Best Door

Byrne Agency, 917 Madison Ave

Agency door

Runners up:
Cherry House, 637 Hughes St.
Queen Victoria, 102 Ocean St.

Best Block

Victorian Towers

If you’re a local homeowner and you’d like to participate in next year’s competition, visit lightupcapemay.com for details.

We want to know your favorite decorated homes this season! Let us know in the comments or tag us on social media (Facebook, Twitter, tumblr & instagram) @lovecapemay.