HOPE — Main Street of Hope has bestowed the coveted “Deck the Town” trophy to a local family who won this holiday’s season’s popular vote for best outdoor Christmas display.
The winner is the home of Kylie and Jon Griffin, located at 1607 Manor Drive in Hope. Their residence was chosen from 15 other finalists.
And the coveted trophy? It’s a classic from the 1983 film “A Christmas Story.”
In that film, a mother decides that the female leg lamp her husband receives as a “major award” is distasteful. But after the film became a holiday classic, replicas of the same lamp have been bought in communities across the nation and handed out as tongue-in-cheek “major awards.”
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In Hope, one such replica is passed on every December to the winner of the “Deck The Town” competition, sponsored by Main Street of Hope.
Besides the leg lamp, the Griffins’ name will be placed to a commemorative plaque that will travel with the lamp to the homes of future winners, Main Street of Hope executive director Susan Thayer Fye said.
Photos of the finalists were posted twice on the “Main Street of Hope” Facebook page, and the house that received the most “Likes” was declared the winner, Fye explained.
The Griffin home received a total of 220 likes, while a residence at 146 Hitchcock Drive received 118, making it the second most popular house among the entries.
Unlike the mother in the film, Kylie Griffin was delighted to display her family’s “major award” in her front window.
So were her two oldest sons, Trenton and Kolten, who have watched “A Christmas Story” a number of times over the years. However, she was not sure whether her youngest son, Nathan, was in on the joke prior to this holiday season.
While commonly called the leg lamp, Indiana-born author Jean Shepherd (1921-1990), who wrote the original story and narrated the film, described it as “the Lascivious Special Award That Heralded the Birth of Pop Art.” The story first appeared in Shepherd’s 1966 book, “In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash.”
After growing up in the Goshen Meadows subdivision where her parents still live, Kylie Griffin and her husband, Indianapolis native Jon Griffin, moved their family to the Liberty Place subdivision in 2012.
The family has always enjoying outdoor holiday displays since they were children, Kylie Griffin said.
For the past seven years, the Griffins have added a bit more to their display that includes a number of inflatable items, Kylie Griffin said. The family received a lot of positive comments last month on their Shaking Snowman, who holds up a sign that reads “Brrrrrr,” she said.
Another popular display was a large inflated snowball that sings “Jolly Old St. Nick” and “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town,” she said.
But the family also wanted to emphasize they have also displayed a full nativity scene, complete with angels, for the second year in a row. Many of the Hope entries that received the most votes had nativity scenes.
In order to be eligible for the contest, all homes had to be decorated prior to Dec. 15. Photos began to be posted on the Main Street of Hope Facebook page the following day on Dec. 16.
While everyone was allowed to cast a vote on Facebook, all homes in the contest had to be located within the Hope town limits, Fye said.
