Start unraveling those Christmas lights, dust off the Santa and start assembling your reindeer display. The Second annual “T’was The Lights Before Christmas” city-wide lighting contest is happening sooner than you think. 

One of the better things to occur due to COVID-19 is that we go the chance to share some Christmas spirit in a safe family-fun way with our “T’was The Lights Before Christmas” lighting Contest. Last year, our first attempt went pretty darn well. We asked people to sign up to be part of the lighting contest. Both residents and businesses took part. Each week we announced winners in one of four categories. It was fun to have the unveiling happen week by week so people could go check out the winners. 

We love suspense. The added bonus of some of our favorite holiday characters and a few local celebrities announcing winners added to the fun. The fun competition was enjoyed by the many that decorated and the countless number of people that got to enjoy their holiday efforts as they walked through neighborhoods or drove around town. 

This year we do hope to offer even more fun and festive displays. Our secret judging takes place on the last Monday in November so we can start announcing our winners just a few days later. So plan ahead and stop by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry office to get your registration form filled out. We do have a November 20th deadline for registration. Don’t miss out. 

We are happy to announce that thanks to the returning sponsorship of First National Bank and Trust and the addition of Greenwoods State Bank, we are able to offer some amazing prize money once again to our contest winners. Their generous support will allow us to print some amazing contest signage and make maps available for everyone to tour the city and all the holiday décor. 

Of course you know there has to be more! So here it is: To thank people for knowing the importance of community support and shopping local, we want to help everyone make shopping local easier, so along with the city-wide lighting contest we will be offering our Monroe Money Cash Out Christmas Promotion. 

We need to make sure that shopping locally is your first choice. Our family, friends, neighbors own and operate some of the best businesses in Wisconsin. There is even more importance eon how you spend your money and we want to make it as easy as possible.  

So this is how is looks for 2021: When you purchase $100.00 in Monroe Money, The Monroe Chamber of Commerce and Industry will provide an extra $20.00. This will make you money go farther and keep investing in our local businesses. The program has been so fantastically popular we will have to set some limits. The Promotion will begin on November 1st. No preorders, and $300.00 per household.

People can stop in person Monday through Friday at the office to order. We also continue making things more accessible for people, we do offer the opportunity to order Monroe Money from our website monroechamber.org/monroe-money/. Simply place your order on line and schedule your pick up. Monroe Money can be purchased in any denomination and can be used at all of our member businesses.

We truly feel this is the best way for us to assist our community in choosing to shop local.  No shipping fees, no delayed shipments, no worrying about porch pirate snagging your deliveries and let’s not forget the best customer service anywhere. Your money stays local and we thank you for that.

— Melissa Even is the executive director for the Monroe Chamber of Commerce. She can be reached at melissa@monroechamber.org.