This year’s winner is the Chumra family of Lincoln Street.
 

The Parks and Recreation Commission met in their city hall office Tuesday evening to discuss the planned route for viewing contestants’ houses, and preview pictures of the decorated homes.

Then commission members Paul Shaker, Jamie Giantonio and Claudia Helfgott, settled into a 15-passenger van to tour the city.

Armed with flashlights, clipboards and sharpened pencils, the commission was determined to find a winner. They were looking for the house that stood out among the crowd.

Judge and commission member Claudia Helfgott, who has judged this contest before, believes that it brings spirit and pride to the community. But Helfgott was looking for the one house that had something special.

"I like to see themes. It shows planning," Helfgott said. "But looking at what people have done, I can see that people really have a lot of holiday spirit."

The Chumra house was chosen by the judges because of its diversity. With a lawn full of lights, inflatable cartoon figures and glowing robotic reindeer, the Chumra house stands out among the rest. Winning has been a goal the Chumras for the last two years.

But that didn’t matter for Janet Chumra. "This is our third year in the contest, and we are so happy to win but it really didn’t matter if we won or not," Chumra said. "It’s about the kids. They enjoy it ,and I love this time of year."

The hard work of the Chumra family has paid off in the faces of the children and the people who come to see their home.

"We do it for the children. I love to see the kids come by and enjoy it. I was shocked when I found out we won, but it’s really such a great holiday season," Chumra said.

"We start decorating the day after Thanksgiving," Janet Chumra said, "and it takes about 3 to 4 hours each day to get everything together, but we don’t mind. We’re happy when people come to look at our house."

Judges looked at creativity, beauty, originality, holiday spirit, theme, humor, technological fantasy and degree of difficulty. Other winners include:

2nd place -- Brenadetta Loyd of Lewis Raod

3rd place -- Krystyna Korab of Booth Street

4th place -- Issabelita Cancel of Stanley Street

All contestants will receive a "Benefits are Endless" gift courtesy of the New Britain Parks and Recreation Department. And, the finalists will receive a variety of gift certificates from local area businesses.

Franchone Fraser-Ben Reuben Bey may be reached at ffraser@newbritainherald.com or by calling (860) 225-4601, Ext 221.