The Circleville light pole decorating contest is brightening up Main Street from Halloween to Christmas.
Last year Circleville Mayor Kristi Westwood and others were trying to come up with a way to help their town be more festive. Becky Robinson came up with the idea: have a light pole decorating contest. That was when scarecrows and ghosts first began appearing along Circleville Main Street, and this year, they are back.
The contest has one rule — decorate the light pole according to the time of year — beyond that, the town has no other stipulations for the contest, leaving the actual decorating decisions up to locals’ creativity. The time of year? All the way from Halloween to Christmas (actually covered in two different competitions).
The deadline for the fall contest was technically the end of September, but Kristi said it’s more important that they get all 16 poles decorated. “We want every pole to be utilized,” she said, even if she has to go out and decorate a few herself.
Once all the decorations are up, Circleville has a judge come from out of town, awarding three prizes. The prizes are quite good, said Kristi. Last year a $50 gift certificate went to first place.
Unlike many larger festive contests in bigger areas, the contestants for the Circleville pole decorating are mostly just regular ole’ locals. And Circleville families have made the contest their own.
A couple of ghosts haunt the light poles by the grocery store.
Farther down the street, some scarecrows lounge on hay bales taking in the autumn colors.
A cotton spider web delicately strings its way up a pole across the street, aided by rocks and purple Halloween tape.
“Some people do solar lights or run an extension cord from their house so they can light them up!” said Kristi. And the Circleville mayor said there are still more to come.
All together, the decorated light poles welcome the festive season of changing leaves, harvest, candy, and scares. Come November and December, the Halloween decorations will be taken down and replaced with pine and candy cane for Christmastime.
Kristi said the town council hopes to keep doing this contest, and they hope it picks up! It is a fun way for the town to keep finding their unique flavor of festivity — and friendly competition — year after year.
– Abbie Call, The Byway
Read more about small town holidays in Bicknell’s ‘Homey’ 24th of July Is Here to Stay.
Abbie Call – Cannonville/Kirksville, Missouri
Abbie Call is a journalist and editor at The Byway. She graduated in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in editing and publishing from Brigham Young University. Her favorite topics to write about include anything local, Utah’s megadrought, and mental health and meaning in life. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hanging out with family, quilting and hiking.
Find Abbie on Threads @abbieb.call or contact her at [email protected].