LIGHTING CONTEST

The Topeka Capital-Journal is sponsoring this year's Light Up Topeka contest.

To enter: Fill out the form in the ad on Page 4B in today's newspaper, and send it in.

Entry deadline: 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 30; entering is free.

Judging: Ambassadors of the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce will judge entries on the evenings of Dec. 6, 7 and 8.

Prizes: $250 grand prize, with $50 prize for first place in each of five judging areas

Judging areas:

- Area 1 --- south of the Kansas River to 21st Street, from Topeka Boulevard west to Auburn Road

- Area 2 --- south of 21st Street to 53rd, from Topeka Boulevard to Auburn Road

- Area 3 --- south of the Kansas River to 21st Street, from Topeka Boulevard east to Shawnee Heights Road

- Area 4 --- north of the Kansas River to 62nd Street, between Menoken Road and K-4 highway

- Area 5 --- south of 21st Street, from Topeka Boulevard east to Shawnee Heights Road

Winners announced: Look for photos of the winners in At Home on Dec. 18. Winners will be announced in The Topeka Capital-Journal after judging is complete.

Season of lights

Retailers ready with everything from retro looks to inflatable figures

By Heather Jones

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

It's that time of year again --- time to deck the halls and your house with holiday cheer.

Hobby Lobby is just one of the stores in Topeka that is stocked for the season.

"We've got wreaths, trees, ornaments, garlands, poinsettias and tableware," said Dana Herrell, who works in the floral department at Hobby Lobby.

Hobby Lobby designates one-quarter of its space to Thanksgiving and Christmas merchandise, which began arriving at the store in May.

The store expects customers this year to go for retro and frosted Christmas trees and themed figurines, Herrell said.

To help customers figure out how to put together displays, Hobby Lobby arranges items by themes, she said. Even the ornament section is divided into specific themes.

Penny Ray, a cashier at Hobby Lobby, said she sees a lot of customers who use themes in their decorating. One might pick up items to show support for The University of Kansas or Kansas State University, while the next person has traditional red and green and the next has decorations in all one color.

A customer can spend as much or as little as she wants, Herrell said. There are items for 99 cents, and there is a 12-foot Christmas tree for $599.99.

Prices are similar at Westlake Ace Hardware, where assistant manager Neal Norris offers advice to people who need to power their displays.

"I wouldn't recommend stringing a lot of lights together," Norris said. "You want to get to as many outlets as you possibly can."

Most exterior holiday lights are small-wattage bulbs and don't need a lot of extra electricity to run, Norris said.

New items this holiday at Westlake include arctic ice moveable sculptures, fiber optic tree ornaments that change color and a 4- foot inflatable Santa. Westlake also will be receiving 300 of the traditional 8-foot inflatable Santas, Norris said.

Norris said he has seen fewer customers shopping early, though he believes after Thanksgiving sales will start to increase.

"It feels like to me it's taking off awfully slow this year," Norris said. "It's just a feeling I'm getting. I would have thought we'd had more business by now."

It may pick up as Topekans start putting together their entries for The Topeka Capital-Journal's holiday lighting contest. Entries are due by Nov. 30, with judging on the following week. That gives entrants an extra weekend to get their displays fine-tuned before judges start coming around on Dec. 6.

The grand prize in this year's contest is $250, and five first- place prizes of $50 each will be awarded.

Herrell agreed that people are just now starting to do their holiday decorating shopping, though she said people who do crafts tend to start earlier.

"Our busiest shopping day is the day after Thanksgiving," Herrell said. "People tend to incorporate Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations into one."

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