Main Street names window winners

Palace Hotel places first in contest

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The Palace Hotel, the Port Townsend Antique Mall and the Red Truck Foundation were the winners of this year’s Holiday Window Display Contest, conducted by the Port Townsend Main Street Program.

“It was a difficult decision this year, as so many windows were so beautifully and thoughtfully decorated,” said Candace Mangold, events assistant with the Port Townsend Main Street Program.

Mangold said judges studied store windows in uptown and downtown Port Townsend for several hours Dec. 3.

The winner was the Palace Hotel for its Port Townsend train station display.

Mangold said the hotel added new mini-lights to the small buildings in its display and has continued to invest in improvements for the train station.

“A lot of love continues to go into this display every year, making it a favorite holiday stop,” Mangold said.

Palace Hotel General Manager Gary Schweizer estimated they’ve been building on the same display for at least eight years.

“It’s an ongoing project,” Schweizer said. “Every year, it becomes a more complete vision of Port Townsend. It’s a lot of fun to watch the kids come in and enjoy it, no matter their actual ages.”

Schweitzer credited the Palace Hotel’s owner with coming up with the idea for the display.

“They always liked trains, and they thought kids would love it, too, which they do,” Schweizer said. “We get a little faster at putting it up each year. This year, it only took us five days.”

The Palace Hotel will receive a wreath, a photo opportunity and $50 toward a 2019 Port Townsend Main Street Promotion.

Second place was awarded to the Port Townsend Antique Mall.

“They had an amazing Halloween display in October and kept up the stunning work with a vintage Christmas display complete, with retro antique toys and a gorgeous tree adorned with vintage glass ornaments,” Mangold said.

Polly Caprye, store manager of the Port Townsend Antique Mall, said the window displays are a year-round seasonally themed feature of the shop, with displays for Halloween, Christmas and the Rhododendron and Wooden Boat festivals.

“We just keep rotating items from our 45 wonderful dealers through our front display windows,” Caprye said. “It’s fun making different collections for each festive occasion.”

The Christmas displays of vintage and antique toys have evoked adult shoppers’ memories of their own childhoods, Caprye said, while the inclusion of Santa Claus, snowmen and Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer have appealed to children who pass by.

The Port Townsend Antique Mall will receive an award, a photo opportunity and a $25 gift card to the Food Co-op.

Honorable Mention went to the Winter Window on Washington Street by the Red Truck Foundation.

“This is a first-year entry that will hopefully become a Port Townsend tradition,” Mangold said.

The Red Truck Foundation also will receive an award, a photo opportunity and a $25 gift card to the Food Co-op.

Mangold recommended visiting uptown Port Townsend for an Elvis sighting at Castaways, a Pantone “prism of color” at Studio-STL, luminaries in the entry from Puffin Shoe Repair and the Jefferson Land Trust, dancing sugar plum fairies at the Parlour Salon, festive greens at Petals and Finistere, and the “gorgeous” tree and decor inside Aldrich’s.

“Take a stroll throughout downtown to see charming windows filled with holiday details,” Mangold said. “Don’t miss the floating frames photo booth at Frameworks NW in the Undertown, the Tin Woman with Heart in the window of Olympic Art and Office, snow falling at Bubble N Squeak, a stunning windowscape at 1851, animated elves at Expressions, dancing Santa at the PT Shirt Company, a Celtic Christmas at Wandering Angus, and Native American stockings and garland at Pacific Traditions.”