When I was a child, there were three types of Halloween decorations: carved pumpkins, sheets hung up to look like ghosts, and old clothes stuffed with straw to make a 'body'. These days, there is an incredible selection of different products to choose from, making it possible for those for whom Halloween is their favorite holiday to showcase their decorating talents. Scary music pumped through hidden speakers, video images broadcast on windows or screens, choreographed light shows, animated yard art, and on, and on, and on.
Luckily, there is a way for those who choose to go all out for this holiday to showcase their talents and draw a little recognition for their effort to make this holiday a more memorable one for all of their neighbors, and all of the kids who stop by seeking for trick-or-treats. It's called the Hometown Halloween Decorating Contest. The contest, which is run by the City of Oakley, allows any home that is built within the city limits to submit their property for consideration in the contest. All that the resident of the property has to do is fill out an online form on the City of Oakley website (go to ci.oakley.ca.us and search for the word 'Halloween' to find the form) and submit either a photo of their home with the decorations in place, or a short video of the decorated property. The only limitation is, the decorations cannot be installed by a professional service, and only front yard and roof mounted decorations will be considered.
From there, a list of all of the houses that qualified for the contest is posted on the City of Oakley website, as well as on several social media outlets, and the public is asked to drive by the properties and then vote for their favorite one. When the voting period is over, the house with the most votes is the winner of the contest! Which means they probably should go out and buy a couple more bags of candy, because the chance that they are going to be flooded with trick-or-treaters just went up!
To Theme, or Not to Theme?
Most of the houses that I drove by (both those that were in the contest, and others that were not, but really should have been) were decorated with some sort of theme. One of them was done with a 'Pennywise' theme, which I found out is the main villain in one of Stephen King's movies. Another one was dressed up like a medieval fantasy village complete with dragons and really, really large jack-o-lanterns. Another that I drove by looked like a graveyard playground, or perhaps an undead carnival, with dozens of ghosts and ghouls set up in different scenes. There was even one that reminded me of the vintage decorations from my own childhood, but definitely turned up quite a few notches! I don't recall ever seeing any homes with that many scarecrows, ghosts, and witches when I was young.
The property that won the contest, was definitely in a category by itself. There really isn't a way to describe what it looked like, so if it's still up by the time you are reading this, check out the pictures that are posted on the City of Oakley website! The residents of the winning property definitely went all out for this holiday. There were so many items to look at! They even had what looked like a very large flat screen television monitor raised up on stilts that was broadcasting all sorts of video images. And, the whole thing was choreographed to music, as well as scary sounds, that people who drove by could tune their radio and listen in! But, for me, the scariest part of the entire display was the moment that I wondered what their PG&E bill was going to look like at the end of the month!
At Cypress Storage, We are Dressed to Impress!
One of the things that we take pride in, is the level of customer service we provide. We know there are several different companies that offer storage solutions in our area, so winning your business over the others is important to us. Keeping your business once you are a client is even more important, which is why we will do everything we can to ensure that you are satisfied with the service that we provide. It doesn't matter if you rent one of our largest drive-up, self-storage units, or if you rent one of the smallest interior units, every customer will be treated with the utmost respect. At Cypress Storage, it's all about the treats, no tricks. Come stop by and see for yourself! We would be glad to provide you with a tour!