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)

 

 - Follow Downtown Decorations on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram -

 

 

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.

 

The Bulletin: Aug. 29

Source: LIFE



• 8 great Labor Day weekend getaways (CNN) (Pictured)
• Christmas in August? Why families are celebrating (KBOI)
• Canadian members had it and U.S. members could lose it (IDA)
• Detroit: A Perfect Example of Main Street Culture (Main Street)
• Pret A Manger starts Christmas in August with carol tunes (New York Post)

 

- Follow Downtown Decorations on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram -

 

 

Waterbury, Connecticut

 

Downtown Decorations was approached by the city of Waterbury to transform their downtown fountain into a “winter fountain.” We designed and fabricated a custom animated fountain to give an eye-catching pop to the area. We started by taking precise measurements of the fountain itself as well as reviewing the drawings for the construction of the fountain. We then designed a custom horse collar bracket that would fit around the top of the fountain and be held in place with weights. The arms of the fountain connect to the collar using a compression sleeve with bolts, and attach to another bracket at the bottom of the fountain. We designed a custom lighting pattern using cool white and blue bulbs to mimic cascading water and added a custom animation controller to command the effects. For more on our commercial Christmas lights, click here. More photos after the jump.

Canandaigua, New York

 

Check out these photos of our banners and decorations in beautiful downtown Canandaigua. The city of just over 10,000 people is located on the northern end of Canandaigua Lake, the fourth largest of the Finger Lakes, and the hometown of Wegmans CEO Danny Wegman. Each year, the city holds a large Christmas outing, urging residents to support local retailers during the holidays. Downtown Decorations supplies the merchants association with banners, banner enhancers, pole apps and lights for the big celebration. More photos after the jump.

Notes from the VP: Christmas Creep and August Creep

I feel like as soon as fall hits, the conversation turns to Christmas Creep, and by default, Halloween Creep. This is the phenomenon in which every year retailers roll out Christmas ads and merchandise a few days earlier and earlier, Christmas parties start spilling into November, and Santa Claus is out before Thanksgiving. All that being said, there is another disturbing trend that’s happening that is near and dear to my heart -- August Creep.

I’m a beach fanatic and a chaser of the Endless Summer -- ironic for a guy in my line of work. I’ve started to notice fall creeping into August more and more. Preseason football is on, and people are talking about apple picking and pumpkin beer. Summer is a precious gift and we’re killing it far too soon.

Recently, the following article on the subject came out in the WSJ: http://on.wsj.com/19C16Gd. It’s great reading for any lover of summer.

We’ve got 10 days left before the unofficial start of football, cider, and pumpkins. Have you summered properly?

Garrett Peterson
Vice President
Downtown Decorations, Inc.
 

Wegmans

 

Are you one of the thousands of self-described Wegmans groupies? We are! We like Wegmans so much that we provide holiday décor for one-quarter of all Wegmans stores. Each year, we adorn the facades of the stores with large 8 ft. and 12 ft. LED lit wreaths that feature 6 ft. bows and a variety of ornaments. Shoppers in the Rochester, Binghamton, Ithaca, and Buffalo areas can look forward to seeing our decorations in a few months. For now, check out some pictures from an install we did last year at the Johnson City location.

 

 

 

 

Made in America

Downtown Decorations, Inc. is proud to announce that a majority of our goods are now being made in America. We believe that by keeping these manufacturing jobs here, we can help the American economy grow and create opportunities for future generations. We also think it is important to support safe working conditions, child labor laws, minimum wage restriction and product safety standards.

We believe that the quality of our American-made items are exponentially better than their foreign counterparts. Some of the items that we make here in America include garlands, which are traditionally made in Asia, and trees, which most décor companies import from overseas. Currently, the following items are made right here in America:

·         Cascade Wreaths

·         80% of garlands, including pine branch, colored, and specialty

·         50% of bows are now domestically produced

·         All banners

·         Adirondack pine trees

·         All pole decorations

 

Right now, we work with manufacturers located in Vermont, Minnesota, Oregon, Colorado, California and New York.

 



In addition to higher quality products, domestic manufacturing helps to reduce the carbon footprint. We no longer have to ship the products from halfway around the world, which reduces the need for fossil fuels to transport them.

Having our goods produced in America also makes it easier for our customers. Items can be made on demand, which reduces and nearly eliminates running out of stock when critical last minute orders are placed.

We can also control the quality of the product. We can ensure that only the highest quality materials and methods are being used to produce our goods. For example, the garlands we make here in America are superior to ones made in China for the following reasons:

·         The film used to spin the garland is a heavier weight in thickness as well as from a higher quality film. This reduces fading and makes them more crush resistant.

·         The center core wire is domestically produced as well and spun thicker for durability. We also used galvanized wire throughout to nearly eliminate potential rusting in high-use winter environments.

·         Since garland is spun on demand, we can customize it for our customers. This includes colors, tip counts, sizes, and shapes. If a customer wants purple and silver garland, we can just dial the machine in and spin away.

  

 

Downtown Decorations, Inc. is committed to manufacturing our products in America. It is exciting for us to join the ranks of businesses that are buying and selling American, and put our dollar back into our economy.

 

Notes from the VP: Finding inspiration in everyday objects

 

When designing Christmas décor, we try to take movement and elements from everyday objects that we see around us. Our custom work ideas can come from anything we see, and we try and keep our eyes peeled for inspiration. One of these items has been the chandelier. Very simple and almost common, it lends itself perfectly to overhead décor or even to ground décor. We, of course, put our own holiday spin on it but the shape and form remain the same.

Garrett Peterson
Vice President
Downtown Decorations, Inc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

 

Take a look at these stunning photos of a project we did in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The client wanted a more modern and unique take on Christmas decorations so we created a grand illuminated sculpture. The “tree” is 14 ft. tall. To learn more about our sphere trees, click here. More photos after the jump.

Guayaquil, Ecuador

 

For the third year in a row, Downtown Decorations will be installing complete décor packages in four malls in Guayaquil, Ecuador! The city of Guayaquil is the largest and most populous in Ecuador, with around 3.75 million living in the metropolitan area. We are extremely excited about this project and began shipping products to the malls this week. If you happen to be in Guayaquil this holiday season, be sure to stop by any of the malls – Entrerios, Norte, Sur or Ceibos – to see our décor. And if you can’t make it to Guayaquil, check out some photos of this year's pre-production and last year’s finished displays after the jump.

It's Destiny

The holiday decoration installation at Destiny USA is complete!  The wells are filled with custom banners, ginormous 3-D snowflakes & twinkling ice light curtains. 

Patrons are bustling about doing their last minute holiday shopping & Christmas is in the air.  Next time you're at the mall in a panic searching for the perfect gift, take a second to glance up & be amazed.

Let it Snow

The pictures are starting to roll in & the holiday decor looks great!  Kathy's client at Poughkeepsie Plaza said:

Hi Kathy,

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the snowflakes!!! We have had so many compliments!!

Thank you!

 

 

They've also got some holiday swag going on:

It's looking like a glamourous Christmas-thanks Kathy!

You Don't Smell Like Santa...

You smell like beef & cheese!
 
Santa got a brand new home at Shoppingtown Mall this year.  He doesn't sit on a throne of lies (a quote from Elf, I'm sure this is the real Santa, look at that beard), he sits on a velvet, custom made bench!

 

Look at that hedge fencing & the glitter boxes!  The bow toppers were hand made by our little elves.

The Downtown Decorations workforce is a little too old to visit Santa, but I know we all wish we had a photo shoot with him.  How does he keep those gloves so clean?

 

What's on your wish list this holiday season?  I'll be interviewing Santa's helpers throughout the next few weeks to see what they're looking for under the Christmas tree.  I'm sure everyone just wants world peace.