Photos by Mary Alice Murphy
SC Mainstreet holiday windows 122119
SC Mainstreet holiday windows 122119
A smaller version of the quilters' holiday tree at The Hub took pride of place at the Silver City Murray Ryan Visitor Center.
SC Mainstreet holiday windows 122119
The awards ready to be handed out for the Holiday Window Contest and People's Choice award.
SC Mainstreet holiday windows 122119
Patsy Madrid won third place for Vintage Fantasies' windows.
SC Mainstreet holiday windows 122119
Tisha Donovan and Kris Lowry took second place for Kris's Boutique windows.
SC Mainstreet holiday windows 122119
Ramona Maltby received the first place award for Encore's windows.
SC Mainstreet holiday windows 122119
Mike Madigan of the Silver City Co-Op receives the People's Choice award for the Co-op's decorations.
SC Mainstreet holiday windows 122119
Patsy Madrid shows her happiness at winning the Spirit of Christmas award and reaches in for a hug from Wait (behind the flowers) and Rudick.
SC Mainstreet holiday windows 122119
Wait, Madrid and Rudick pose for the cameras.
Silver City MainStreet announced the winners of the 2019 Holiday Merchant Window contest and the Spirit of Christmas Award, December 18 at 9:30 am at the Murray Ryan Visitor Center. Twenty-two merchants had entered the contest and many more decorated their windows for fun.
The merchants' special window displays were judged for creativity/originality, holiday spirit, and lighting and prizes for first, second and third and a community choice award were awarded.
The first-place winner went to Encore, second place to Kris’s Unique Boutique, and third place to Vintage Fantasies. The community choice award went to the Silver City Food Co-op. MainStreet encouraged residents to come downtown and see all the windows and holiday lights. Some were funny and others historic, and all made downtown a fun place to be.
Last year MainStreet initiated an annual award, the Ward A. Rudick Spirit of Christmas award with Ward A. Rudick being the first recipient. This year the award went to Patsy Madrid who owns Vintage Fantasies. Madrid has always decorated her store windows for the holidays and sponsors a fundraising event each summer to raise funds for holiday decorations.
Mike Madigan, Silver City Co-op assistant manager, asked the Beat to recognize the two employees who painted the window for the contest. They are Elysha Montoya and Annabella Gomez.
The mission of Silver City MainStreet is "To encourage a vibrant, historic downtown Silver City which is recognized as the heart of our diverse community." Please visit the website, www.silvercitymainstreet.com, to learn more.