Homegrown Moorestown, an organization founded by township residents Celie Coleman and Gretchen Simmerson, will host its inaugural Halloween house-decorating contest, with entries voted on by residents through Sunday.
Categories include spookiest, classic Halloween and most haunted block.
“I remember thinking about it last Halloween, driving around with my kids in the car, especially driving down Central Avenue,” said Coleman. “The kids always wanted to see what new Halloween decorations went up, and so even last year, I was thinking, ‘There should be a contest. These people put a lot of time and effort into it, it should be celebrated.
“ … It just seems easy enough in a small town to just get it going, and it kind of evolved, and Celie had the idea of making Homegrown Moorestown,” Simmerson explained.
Winners from each category will earn a spot in the Moorestown Halloween hall of fame and have photos of their decoration work posted on the Homegrown Moorestown website. Only outdoor decorations visible from the curb will be considered. More than 30 houses had already entered the competition by Oct. 19, something Simmerson and Coleman are happy about.
“For the first year, we feel like that’s a good turnout,” Simmerson said.
“We’ve seen, even from putting it out there,” Coleman noted, “like, ‘We’re hoping to get this started. You could see people talking to their friends on Facebook, like, ‘Oh my gosh, your husband should do this,’ or ‘You would be great at this,’ so the idea of the whole thing is bringing people together.”
Residents can vote for the best of three contest categories: spookiest, classic Halloween and most haunted block.
According to its website, Homegrown Moorestown believes that one of the most important parts of a positive community is the energy that comes from people coming together. The organization hopes to help all of Moorestown’s neighbors who feel the same by keeping them up to date on the exciting line-up of events and happenings around town. Homegrown Moorestown hopes to bring people together to celebrate the township’s vibrant community. This is the organization’s first major event, but Simmerson and Coleman plan to keep the fun going.
“We don’t know exactly where we’re going with it, but we definitely want to keep events (going) throughout the year,” Simmerson said. “We have another idea for the spring that we would host, so we have to plan that out but this is our first initial one.”
Residents who are interested in seeing the contest’s registered houses can access a map at https://homegrownmoorestown.wixsite.com/moorestown/contact-7.
“We have a Google Map so every house that’s entered, we’re going to send out this map so everyone can view where they all are in Moorestown,” Simmerson said. “ … On the voting form there will be a picture of the house so people, even if they can’t get out and drive around, they can still see an image,” Simmerson said.
Longtime friends Simmerson and Coleman are excited to see what Homegrown Moorestown develops into, all while bringing people together.
“The idea is that the community is what you make it so if you’re engaged in it, if you’re involved and know what’s going on and enjoying it, then it’s going to be an enjoyable community to be in,” Coleman said.
For more information on the organization, visit https://homegrownmoorestown.wixsite.com/moorestown.
