The streets of Pacific Beach will soon come to life with festive decor and colorful lights, brightening up storefronts from North Pacific Beach to Crown Point for Discover Pacific Beach’s upcoming holiday window-decorating contest, starting Nov. 24. Registration is ongoing through Tuesday, Nov. 20. “Every year, Discover PB launches the ‘Shop Local’ campaign for the holiday season to highlight Pacific Beach as a great place to shop for the holidays. Part of that is creating a fun environment for people to come eat, drink and shop,” said Alexandra Black, program manager at Discover PB. “We put on the window-decorating contest to entice our businesses to get into the holiday spirit and create that environment along our streets.” With the resurrection of the Pacific Beach Holiday Parade this year, the vibrant storefronts will also serve as colorful eye candy for passersby and guests en route during the parade. “We hope that the contest will get to the point where people will drive into PB to check out our great decorations, much like they do in neighborhoods with the best house lights, and stay to shop at all our diverse retail opportunities,” said Black. This year, in honor of Pacific Beach’s 125th anniversary, the theme for the window-decorating contest and parade will be “Holidays Past & Presents.” “We are encouraging businesses to pick a decade from the last 125 years and then decorate their window in the holiday fashion from that era,” Black said. “We are hoping to get as many participants as possible this year and really see the use of the theme to tie in our anniversary celebrations using historical photos or scenes from PB or from the turn-of-the-century shopping scene to a 1970s disco Santa. Let the creative juices flow.” First and foremost, judges of the window contest will seek creativity in the overall presentation; however, theme relevance and incorporation of Pacific Beach will also play key roles in the contest. Judges will announce the contest winners at the Pacific Beach Holiday Parade on Dec. 12 at 2 p.m., just before Santa is set to hit the stage. In addition to yearlong bragging rights, contest winners will also be featured in an upcoming edition of Beach & Bay Press, as well as receive certificates for the first-place prize, runner-up and Best of North PB or Crown Point winners. Businesses wishing to participate in the contest must register no later than Nov. 20, and windows must be decorated by Nov. 24. Lights may be included in the window display and facade décor, and professional help is permitted. To help liven up the neighborhood and ready the streets of Pacific Beach for the holidays, Black encourages community members to get involved. “For every dollar spent in small businesses, five times that amount is returned to the community,” said Black. “This holiday season, remember to shop small and come check out all the great windows and storefronts.” For more information or to register for the contest, email Black at [email protected].