Herriman recognizes home decorating as art

By Tori La Rue | [email protected]

Home decorating isn’t just an activity; it’s an art, according to the Herriman Arts Council. 

“Our mission is to provide as many opportunities as we can for people in the community to experience art in all the different forms,” said James Crane, arts council chairman. “We are trying to instill into the residents the importance of art and give people an opportunity to showcase the things they feel passionate about, and I’ll tell you, there are people who love to decorate.” 

The arts council has provided an avenue for home decorators to be recognized in the community since 2001 with their annual Best Dressed Houses contests. The first activity, hosted in the month of October, centers around Halloween decor, and the second activity focuses on December holidays, including Christmas. 

“It is a fun way to celebrate the holidays and bring attention to that kind of visual art, ” Crane said. 

Arts council members used to determine the winners by driving around the city and placing wooden signs in people’s yards to let them know that they won a contest, but online communication has provided a platform for residents to submit their decor for adjudication. 

Residents enter the contests by posting their address and a photo of their house on the Herriman Arts Council Facebook page and adding the tag “#HACBestDressedHouse.” The Halloween entries were accepted Oct. 15–26, and the Dec. entries will be accepted Dec. 7–21. 

Chelsi Dall, event planner, took live Facebook video footage as arts council members presented Megaplex gift packages to Halloween winners on Oct. 26. The arts council selected Leigh Anne Duff’s entry for the Scariest award and Andrea Herbold K.’s entry for the Overall Best Dressed award. Erin Brown and Ashley Middleton won the People’s Choice award for getting the most likes on Facebook. 

Duff’s house was decked with fake, giant spiders hanging in the yard above ground and an imitation cemetery, complete with headstones and a skeleton inside of a coffin. Herbold’s entry included pink and purple lights which were set up to flash to a designated radio station, lit headstones including one talking headstone, fog, inflatable objects and projections across the garage. 

Brown’s house included creepy scenes using hand-made dummies, giving the impression of a man hanging upside down from a tree, a clown lounging in a chair while holding a doll and a ghoul running over a person with a lawn mower. Middleton’s house included banners of phantoms whose capes flapped in the wind. 

After the Halloween contest ended, Dall said she’s looking forward to the Best Dressed Holiday House submissions. 

“I always look forward to the houses covered in Christmas lights that dance to music,” she said. “It is very entertaining to watch.” 

The Categories for the Best Dressed Holiday House will be People’s Choice (the entry with the most likes on Facebook), Most Dazzling and Best Dressed House. The competition may be fiercer this time around because Dall said there’s always more entries during December than in October. 

The process for entering the contest is the same as the process for the October contest. People who aren’t interested in decorating their home can participate by driving around to the local homes and seeing the decorations in person or by voting on other people’s submissions through liking their entries on Facebook.

“Our hope is that this activity will bring a community feeling of togetherness,” Crane said.