Laura Woodward-Drake, chairman of the Exmouth Chamber of Commerce.
We wanted to bring some festive fun to our ‘love local’ initiatives and so our wonderful Exec member Debbie, owner of Celebrations Exmouth, highlighted a competition run by the Journal a few years ago.
Back in the time where the high street was bustling with Christmas busy-ness, local shops took part in a challenge to make fantastic displays to show off what they do and capture the magic of Christmas.
Celebrations won the trophy that year and have been proudly displaying it ever since.
As this year has been extremely difficult for many businesses, the Chamber exec wanted to continue with our ‘love local’ campaign and do something in December to help promote the amazing business community we have.
Unfortunately Tier 2 provided some concerns but we were so excited to see the town get into the festive spirit.
With some amazingly magical displays, full of lights, brilliant local products and much more, the judges had a tough job.
The judges said: “We loved the attention to detail and effort that has gone into all of the entries and it was very difficult to choose! The children's drawings in Eaton Terry Clark's window were fantastic and many of them looked brilliant when lit up at night
“Olympia casting scored the highest amongst the different categories primarily due to the wonderful theme, coordination and authenticity.
“Thank you to all who got involved with bringing some magic back to the town centre.”
The winner was Paula Jackson of Olympia Casting Studios, in Exeter Road with a Christmas tree and star themed window display.
Mrs Snuggles, in High Street came in second place with their ‘white Christmas’ themed display and Exmouth Cares, also in Exeter Road, came in third with their own take on festive decorations.
Among the entrants were Shoobridge Funeral Services, Pete's Dragons Retail Therapy and Shop Dead Gorgeous.
This was the first Christmas windows competition held in the town since 2014.
For more information on the Exmouth Chamber of Commerce and the work they do, go to https://www.exmouthchamber.co.uk/
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