Persistence Pays Off For Bloomfield Business In Holiday Contest

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — More than a dozen local businesses sought to outdo each other this year in a fierce-but-friendly holiday decorating contest sponsored by the Bloomfield Center Alliance (BCA).

The BCA recently held its fifth annual downtown Holiday Window Design Contest, getting some festive submissions from 13 Bloomfield establishments.

With pictures of each window posted on the BCA Facebook page, votes were collected as “likes.” After a nine-day period, the winner was announced as J. T. Murdoch Shoes. It’s the first time that the family-owned business has won, despite having competed every year since the contest first started.

“We’ve always loved this contest and are happy to have won,” owner Mary Murdoch said.

“The spirit of friendly competition it brings out amongst the participating stores makes it a lot of fun,” Murdoch continued. “But in the end, who won isn’t as important as the attention and exposure for the businesses, given the hundreds of people who go online and vote.”

“I think it’s also nice that the contest creates the opportunity for the owners to connect and get to know each other,” Murdoch added.

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The competition was fierce this year with the Italian American restaurant Buccos coming in second place. The popular downtown Bloomfield restaurant entered the contest as the defending champion and its owners were determined to repeat. However, they had to settle for runner-up after a surge of votes for the specialty show store in the final hours (a record 1,400 votes were received for the 13 competing windows).

Participants this year included two businesses which opened earlier in 2020: Six Points Pub and Toni’s Community Closet.

The other businesses were Amazing Escape Room, Arlene’s Bridal Salon, Bloomfield Black and White Taxi, Civilized Nation, Easy Pickins, ESTIR Insurance, Jalapeno Cycling, Ricciardi Brothers Paint, and Vega Palace Jewelry.

The BCA thanked everyone involved with organizing this year’s contest, including Bloomfield College student Carl Wiggins, who took all the closeup pictures of the competing holiday windows.

The below photo comes courtesy of Mary Murdoch.

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