Residents spreading cheer with Light Up Tusky
This home at 236 Church St. in Tuscarawas is decorated for an old-fashioned Christmas.
Asmall town aims to bring back an old-fashioned Christmas for the holidays. The Light Up Tusky Best Decorated House for Christmas competition has attracted 23 participants to its first ever contest for residents of the village. Even those who do not enter are encouraged to add a few festive home decorations for the season. To make the contest a little more interesting, anyone from anywhere is eligible to vote for their favorite.
Light Up Tusky started last year with a volunteer committee who worked to raise money to add decorations to light poles along Main Street. This year the group held a spaghetti dinner fundraiser and reverse raffle in August. In 2022, they began with the first four decorated poles.
“We added 18 this year to Main Street, so I’d say it’s about 75 to 80% complete,” said Matt Smith, a Light Up Tusky committee member. “We’ve had some donations and the support from the town has been great.”
The idea for the home decoration contest came up a couple years ago and the Light Up Tusky committee decided to begin this year after they were able to get a total of 22 pole decorations in place on Main Street.
“In the future, we’d like to see a village Christmas party type thing. And that’s the plan in a couple of years,” Smith said. “A village Christmas tree is also in that planning. The main thing is, we need to get the park projects completed on Main Street. So, once we get all that completed, we have a final location where we can put the Christmas tree to do the festival.”
The members of the Light Up Tusky committee are Smith, Mike McConnell, Tom Baker, and Matt Ritenour.
As of press time, the number of homes competing in the home decoration contest was up to 23. For those not familiar with the village, they have posted a rough map featuring the location of participating homes on their Facebook page, Light Up Tusky.
“I think it’s easiest way to get the word out,” Smith said.
Another part of the contest was getting the businesses in town involved. Many have donated gift certificates for the top prize and serve as locations for voting and donations.
“You have to live in Tusky to enter your home or business, but you don’t have to live in Tusky to vote,” Smith said. “The reason behind that is we want to encourage people to come down from Phila and Dover and Newcomerstown or wherever to see the lights and go through our little town. But also, maybe stop at Bombs Away and get beverages or stop at the Old Town Tavern and get a meal, or the Tusky Deli.”
Smith was surprised and pleased so many homeowners decided to participate in the contest.
“I was hoping for 10,” Smith said.
Voting in the contest is easy. Take a piece of paper for each voter, write down the address and name of the display you are voting for, and add your name and contact information to be eligible for the voter drawing. Voting ends at noon Dec. 21. Ballot drop off locations are the Bombs Away Drive Thru, Old Town Tavern, Tusky Library, Tusky Deli and at the village hall.
The group is still taking donations to complete the decorations on Main Street.
“The box is set up where the votes are also a donation box,” Smith said.
Donations can also be dropped off at the village hall or mailed to the Village of Tuscarawas with Light Up Tusky in the memo line. The project is 100% funded by donations.
The first-place winner will receive a gift basket with gift certificates from some of the businesses sponsoring the event and a $100 gift card. Participating businesses are the Tusky Deli, Olde Towne Tavern, Bombs Away Bar and Drive-thru, Tusky Dug-Out, and Tusky VFW Post 7943. The winner will also receive a half hour session by Heavenly Captures by Shannon Photography, LLC and a gift certificate for a dozen cookies from Creative Mother Hens LLC.
The name of one lucky voter will be drawn to receive a $50 gift card.
“It’s just an incentive to get people to vote,” Smith said.
Smith hopes the event helps bring back the feel of an old-fashioned Christmas to the village. Another activity they would like to bring back in the future is Christmas caroling downtown.
“I think Tusky is a great little town. I love living here. I just want to get a hometown feel back. It’s slipping away anymore. It’s something I’d like to get back and Christmas time is a time everybody seems to come together.”
Smith looks at some of the Christmas gatherings in other towns and wants to see that for Tusky.
“I would love to be able to grab a hot chocolate, get people together and have a tree lighting. That’s our goal,” Smith said. “I’m just happy people are getting involved. We can’t do anything without village support at our fundraisers and people in the village spending their hard-earned money to support us.”
Visit the Light Up Tusky page on Facebook for more information, the location of those participating, and be sure to drive by the village hall to see an eight-foot-tall waving Santa Claus.