Ocean City, New Jersey

In 2012, Downtown Decorations was contacted by Ocean City, New Jersey to create a full holiday décor package for the extremely popular beach destination. The city has made numerous top 10 and best of lists over the years so we knew we had to come up with a design that would really impress.

The city offers miles of beaches, one of the most well-known boardwalks in the world (stretching over 2.5 miles), a quaint downtown shopping and dining district, and in this writer's opinion, the best pizza on earth - Manco & Manco. Actor James Stewart spent his summers in Ocean City as child and actress Grace Kelly was a summer resident, living at a house on 26th and Wesley. The beach town has been popular since the boardwalk first opened in 1880 and although the area is known as a summer vacation spot, business continues to boom on Asbury Avenue throughout the winter. Locals mostly occupy the town during the colder months, but Christmas and New Year’s draw a big influx of visitors. This is why the city contacted us, the holiday décor experts, to design a dazzling displays of lights and decorations for the holiday season.

When creating the décor package, we focused on four main areas of the city – The Ocean City Music Pier, the brand new Visitor’s Center, Asbury Avenue and City Hall.

Ocean City Music Pier: The pier is located near the middle of the famous Ocean City boardwalk. Our designers came up with a classic look that matched the timelessness of the boardwalk. Each of the small front windows of the building feature lit wreaths with stunning red bows. We hung pieces of lit garland across the railings of the balconies on the second floor and added more red bows throughout. To finish it off, we added a huge lit wreath in the middle of the building.

Visitor’s Center: The brand new building is the first thing you see as you are crossing the bridge into Ocean City. We wanted the décor for the Visitor’s Center to really pop so visitors would get a great first impression as they enter the city. We created a design that featured lights around the entire trim of the top, middle and bottom of the building. We think it complements the white, traditional style of the building. We then added lit wreaths in the windows, lit garland hanging above the balcony and the entrance, a huge lit wreath on the top balcony and ornamented everything with red bows.

Asbury Avenue: This is the main area where visitors and locals gather during the winter months, so we created a design that is visually pleasing and welcoming. We started by designing a cross street skyline. The skyline features lit garland with red bows and a lit wreath in the middle. In total, there are 18 skylines going across Asbury Avenue. Next, we used more premium garland to decorate the light poles in the area. We added lights throughout the garland and put red bows on top. Finally, we added some lit garland and bows to the gazebo in the small park located on the street.

City Hall: This building is located on Asbury Avenue in the main downtown area. We went with the same overall design scheme that is featured throughout the other areas in Ocean City. We lined the building’s front windows with lights and put a lit wreath with a red bow in the center of the windows. We also hung a piece of lit garland above the main entrance and added a bow on each end. We then added some lights and a bow to a giant live tree that is located directly next to the building.

We think the simple yet elegant design of lit garland, wreaths and red bows gives the definitive beach town a majestic holiday look. To see more photos, click on the read more button.

The Bulletin: Jan. 24

Source:: Life

• Christmas Lights Outcry: Some Say Sad-Looking Displays Have Got To Go. Or Do They? (The Washington Post)
• $100M Asian-Themed Shopping Mall May Be Built in Milpitas (CBS San Francisco)
• Most Beautiful Snowy Cities - Top Winter Towns (Globe Traveling)
• Beyond Beauty: Seeing Possibility In All Historic Places (NTHP)
• January Downtown Of The Month: Chicago Loop Alliance (IDA)

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Turf Valley Town Square

Downtown Decorations was contacted by Turf Valley Town Square in Ellicott City, Maryland last year to design a holiday décor package for the brand new neighborhood center. The $22 million complex is anchored by Harris Teeter and features a brand new fresh fish and oyster restaurant, Grille 620, owned by retired Baltimore Ravens linebacker Adalius Thomas. Coming in at approximately 108,000 sq. ft., the center includes 16 other businesses. There are also plans to add 300,000 sq. ft. of Class A office and medical space, more than 1,800 residential units, a 175-room resort hotel and spa, and a 36-hole golf course.

In the past eight years, Ellicott City, which is located in the Baltimore-Washington Metro Area, has been ranked four times among the “Top 20 Places to Live in the United States” by CNN Money, so coming into the project we knew that we had to come up with a design that was elegant and matched the thriving nature of the city. Our designers went with a sophisticated classic color scheme of red, white and silver.

The first thing we designed for this project was a unique décor item called the kissing ball. We made this the common theme throughout the complex. There are 22 of these hanging from light poles and four featured in the main fire place area.

The Kissing balls hanging from the light poles are decorated with berries and bows. Garland is wrapped around the light poles and connects to the kissing ball on top. The pole wrap garland is highlighted with berries and white long needle accents.

For the main fire place area, the kissing balls and the pole wrap garland are adorned with lights, berries, bows, and long needle garland accents. We hung a large wreath as the center piece and decorated it with ornaments, lights, snowflakes, and berries. We also placed a banner going down the chimney and behind the wreath to tie together the entire look.

Lastly, we created a custom sign topper that matches the color scheme throughout the complex. The sign is made with glitter red mesh and white LED lights. As customers enter the complex, the first thing they see is the modern and stylish design. Check out more pictures by clicking on the read more button.

La Palmera

2013 was another great year for Downtown Decorations. We were lucky enough to work on some really unique projects, including one for La Palmera shopping center in Corpus Christi, Texas. The coastal city is located in the southern region of Texas and has a metro population of almost half a million. The city is also home to the Port of Corpus Christi, which is the 5th largest port in the entire country.

Residents and tourists looking for the latest in fashion, or a nice restaurant to grab a bite to eat, flock to La Palmera. The 1,017,704 sq. ft. super-regional mall just went through a $50 million renovation, giving it an updated look and fabulous new features, including a design that conforms to U.S. Green Council guidelines. It is the first mall in the United State to be pre-certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-CS Silver, the third highest designation available.

At Downtown Decorations, we also take pride in going green and do all we can to create environmentally conscious designs. For a majority of our projects, we use energy saving LED lights, which use 85% less energy than incandescent bulbs. Many of our products are also made with 60% recycled steel. The glitter mesh sign topper that we designed for La Palmera utilizes both. On top of that, the product was custom-designed to fit on top of the mall’s entrance sign. As you can see in the pictures, the tail notch fits directly on top of the sign. The finished product is not only eco-friendly, but a stylist and sophisticated addition to the mall.

Waimea, Hawaii

In 2013, Downtown Decorations worked on a holiday décor project for a truly unique location. We were contacted to design a custom entrance sign topper and other décor for the Parker Ranch Center, which is a shopping center located on Parker Ranch in Waimea, Hawaii.

Parker Ranch was founded in 1847 and is one of the oldest ranches in the entire United States. The ranch actually predates many found in Texas and the southwestern US by more than 30 years. Not only is it one of the oldest, it is also the largest privately owned cattle ranch in the country. The working cattle ranch takes up approximately 250,000 acres and hosts an annual Fourth of July rodeo. The area was also used as a United State Marine Corps training base during World War II. Marines were trained there in preparation for the assault on Iwo Jima.

Our designers created the custom sign topper to compliment the incredible mountain landscape surrounding the shopping center. It was also designed with easy installation in mind. The topper was made to be bolted down on top of the entrance sign and not drilled into the sign. In addition to the stunning sign topper, we also produced a number of sprays decorated with red bows and a strand of lit garland for the main entrance sign.

The Collection at Forsyth

In 2013, Downtown Decorations designed a huge 44 foot Christmas tree for The Collection at Forsyth. The impressive outdoor lifestyle shopping destination features premier retailers, specialty stores, restaurants, eateries and a movie theater. Located in Cumming, Georgia, The Collection is the premier shopping spot in Metro Atlanta.

Our designers used a classic pattern of red, gold and silver ornaments to compliment the modern and stylish feel of the shopping center. The tree was also decorated with lights and a stunning eight foot snow burst tree topper.