Wind-oh's! Bring festive spirit to Bloomington

Window shoppers in the Bloomington community received festive greetings from retailers as they walked the downtown sidewalks.

These window decorations were a part of Bloomington’s Holiday Wind-Ohs! decorating contest that took place Nov. 27 through Dec. 4.

A panel of judges decided the winners based on the theme “Downtown Holiday Story.”

People’s State Bank won first place and best use of theme with their display that consisted of a large painted wreath. The wreath was adorned with Christmas lights and included paintings of the Courthouse, Lake Monroe, an IU ornament and the Little 500.

FARMbloomington earned second place, most creative and the people’s choice award. Their window incorporated the Christmas theme with their individual business. The window read “Spend your holiday at Farm” and showed a barn, pine trees and Santa’s sleigh being pulled by pigs.

“We wanted to participate because we thought it would be fun,” Harry Shafer, the general manager of FARMbloomington, said. “We’re always looking for fun things to do. We’re trying to stay excited for the holidays.”

Tyler Deaton worked as one of the designers at FARMbloomington. After picking the idea for the window, he and his coworkers spent eight hours decorating.

He and the other designers are hoping for a first-place finish in 2010.

“I’m excited about the award,” Deaton said. “We’ll get them next year.”

Gallery North on the Square took third place in the competition. The Gallery serves as an art co-op, and its window display combined the works of its different artists.

“We had a committee to organize and put together a window for the contest,” artist Robert Osmundsen said.

The display included various sizes of paper and plastic snowflakes. Some of the snowflakes were covered in glitter and were illuminated by the tube lights lining the window. A Christmas tree was decorated with hand-painted ornaments created by the artists. To incorporate the theme, the gallery included paintings of downtown scenes.

“We participated because we thought it would help promote the gallery and help bring customers into the gallery,” artist Jeanne Iler said. “My favorite part was the creativity of our own members coming forth with their ideas about how to make the window look really good. It was our first time decorating the windows, and we are going to continue with the window decorating throughout the year.”

Although judging ended on Dec. 4, the festive decorations are still on display for the Bloomington community. 

“We were delighted by the creative decorations our downtown businesses came up with to go with the ‘Downtown Holiday Story’ theme,” Lynsie Burton, program specialist for the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department, said in a press release. “We extend our sincere thanks and congratulations to all the businesses who participated in making downtown that much more festive this holiday season.”