Cazenovia, New York

In 2011 and 2012, we produced new unlit wreaths and garland for the Village of Cazenovia through the Cazenovia Garden Club. The small village of 2,835 people lies on the southeast shore of the beautiful Cazenovia Lake in Central New York. When we began to design the decor, we decided that it should match the sophisticated feel of the village. We came up with a simple yet elegant look that includes pine cones and red bows. To see more pictures, click on the read more button.

Desperate Housewives

In 2006, Downtown Decorations was contacted by Emmy Award-winning set director Erica Rogalla. Erica was working on Desperate Housewives at the time and needed our help designing a holiday scene for the show’s first Christmas episode, The Miracle Song. We gave Erica a crash course on holiday decor and created some wreath pole designs. To show her appreciation for our special consultant work, Erica sent us this card signed by the show’s leading ladies.

Photos from the episode:

Augusta, Georgia

 

In 2007, we were approached by the Augusta Downtown Development Authority to design a multi-year holiday décor program for the entire city of Augusta, Georgia. Best known for hosting The Masters golf tournament each year, August is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area in the state of Georgia. When we were first contacted, the downtown area was in the process of a revitalization. They wanted to bring a fresh look to the city to get more visitors during the holidays.

We went down to Georgia to visit the site and worked with multiple city departments on the project. We first surveyed the downtown area and then presented a cohesive plan to get the most holiday impact within budget. The program consisted of:

• Custom post over wreaths in key parks throughout the downtown
• A custom made glitter mesh arch over the statue of James Brown on Broad Street
• A custom made animated fountain of light built to sit in an existing fountain
• Decorating a real giant tree in the downtown area with our lights and tree topper
• Over 300 wreath and pole wraps on key streets throughout the downtown and city areas
• Large pole wraps on main intersections throughout the city

After the décor was set up throughout the city, officials held a holiday celebration downtown that included a tree lighting, fireworks, Christmas parade, ice skating and an elf school for children. To check out some pictures of our décor and the holiday celebration, click the read more button below.

Before and After

Before and After

Before and After 

Notes from the VP: Top 5 Cape Cod beaches

As I stated in my last post, I’m a chaser of the endless summer and would ideally like to see winter on my own terms. I spend a lot of my summer on Cape Cod (don’t worry – I’m working remote), so as fall approaches, I thought I would lay out my top 5 favorite Cape Cod beaches.

 

Race Point (Source: The Weekender)

1. Race Point (South) - At the very tip of the cape lies Race Point Beach - my favorite National Seashore Beach and my favorite beach overall. I have my off road vehicle permit, so most weekends the Jeep Army heads to Race Point. With the ORV permit, we drive out onto the beach and away from the crowds of people on the cape. Beautiful and desolate, this beach lends itself to wide open spaces for frisbee, baseball, and just about any other beach activity. Few rocks and calm yet great surf.

Crowe's Pasture (Source: Sarah Fit)

2. Crowe’s Pasture - The second on the list is also an ORV beach. This Dennis town beach on the bay side features an amazing sand bar at low tide that stays out for about 3-4 hours. When the timing is right on a beautiful day, you can’t beat being able to drive right through the ocean, on to a sand bar and set up for the day. Grills, games, cold beers and warm water.

 

Cahoon Hollow (Source: Photo.net)

3. Cahoon Hollow -  What doesn’t this beach have? Amazing waves, beautiful views, a young party atmosphere and the world's greatest beach bar – The Beachcomber. Make sure your in line by 9:30 a.m. or the parking lot fills up. When you’re tired of the beach, trek up the hill and grab a Goombay Smash and fish tacos at the world’s friendliest bar.
 

Coast Guard Beach (Source: Fine Art America)

4. Coast Guard Beach - Don’t be put off by the tram to the beach. Once your past the tram issue, this is one of the top beaches in the world. Great surf, soft sand, and a lazy river to float down at the right time. The water is shockingly warm for an ocean beach and a quick hop back to my house.

 

White Crest (Source: Fine Art America)

5. White Crest - Located about a mile from Cahoon Hollow, this is the spot to hit when Cahoon is full. Don’t let the huge hill deter you, this is an amazing beach and usually a jumping off point to head to The Beachcomber. Usually a bit quieter than Cahoon, this still features the great surf and amazing sand dunes.

 

Garrett Peterson
Vice President
Downtown Decorations, Inc.

 

The Bulletin: Sept. 12

Source: Life

 

• The Christmas season has started, whether you like it or not (Washington Post) (Pictured)
• America's Prettiest Towns (Forbes)
• 12 years after terror attack, tourism, retail surge across Lower Manhattan (Commercial Observer)
• Shopping mall wars escalating in Dubai (World Property Channel)
• September Downtown of the Month: Cape Town, South Africa (IDA)

 

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Cherry Hill, New Jersey

In 2010, Garden State Park in Cherry Hill, New Jersey contacted us to help with the décor for their new center. The enormous complex located minutes away from Philadelphia includes the Market Place, which features over 530,000 sq. ft. of regional shopping, and the Towne Place, which has an additional 205,000 sq. ft. of upscale retail, restaurants and offices. They had recently finished the lifestyle portion of the plaza and wanted some décor to really enhance their first holiday season. One of the major challenges of the project was the custom giant tree. They wanted the tree to sit around their existing fountain, which was 16’ in outer diameter, but they only had a limited budget, so the largest tree that would work was 34'. We took the specs of their fountain and created a custom base for the tree to allow it to seamlessly fit around the fountain with a 3” tolerance. In addition to the giant tree, we decorated each light pole in the shopping center with garland pole wrap and bows, adorned pylon signs, and hung 6’ and 8’ wreaths on buildings throughout the plaza. Take a look at some photos of the tree installation and the finished decorations after the jump.

University Banners

 

Downtown Decorations has worked on banner projects with over 30 universities and colleges across the country. We have collaborated with Cornell, Texas State, Syracuse, UC San Diego, Virginia, Texas Tech and many others. Banners like these can help promote, brand and define a school and its campus. Our design team will work with a school to create unique and custom banners like the University of Alaska Fairbanks one pictured below. We recently worked with UAF to create these remarkable banners while staying within the school's overall branding guidelines. Check out some more photos of our collegiate banners and see what Texas State and Syracuse had to say about working with us after the jump.

 

 

Vero Beach, Florida

 

Vero Beach Outlets approached us in 2012 to assist them with their holiday décor. They had recently gone through a redevelopment of the property and wanted their holiday décor to reflect the transition. We met with their full management team on site and walked the property to get a sense of the center and their thoughts on décor. They wanted a traditional feel to their décor but with a theme that reflected their architecture and clientele. They also wanted large showpiece items that could be viewed from I-95. We created a large 18’ wide glitter mesh bow to sit atop their 60’ Pylon sign as well as a 95’ tree of lights with a 10’ topper custom built from their existing flagpole. We also designed and fabricated a number of glitter packages around the base of the “tree”.  In addition to the showpiece items, they wanted the holiday feel spread throughout the center. We put custom 8’ commercial Christmas wreaths and commercial garland across their entrance bridge, corresponding wreaths and garland around the “towers” in center, and 6’ wreaths in their drive lane. We also placed architectural lightline around each area. Check out some pictures of the install as well as the finished product after the jump.

 

Iron Man 3

 

Almost everyone has seen an Iron Man movie or read one of the comics he has appeared in over the years. Originally created by writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963, Iron man has become one of the most beloved Marvel Comics superheroes. The Iron Man movie franchise is one of the highest grossing in the world, and the latest installment in the series, Iron Man 3, brought in more than $1.2 billion.

Although it premiered in the summer of 2013, the movie is set during the Christmas season. So, of course, the set decoration department reached out to us, the Christmas experts, for our opinions and set design ideas. After a few meetings in early 2012, we began working on some different decorations for the movie, including a giant poinsettia tree and miscellaneous silver trees. The set decoration department needed several of the silver trees for a main action sequence. They were planning on blowing them up and needed the extras in case they had to do multiple takes.

 

We also provided shooting star light decorations for a scene that was shot outside of the Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard (See video above). The decorations were placed outside of the theatre to enhance the Christmas feel of the scene.

We are all still extremely excited that we got to be a part of this project. If you are one of the few people who have not seen Iron Man 3, check it out and see if you can spot some of our decorations.