LAFAYETTE, La. — When is a door more than just a door? The answer is when it’s a door with a holiday theme in an interesting year. Scott Brazda opens a few of them in this edition of Spirit of Acadiana.
The staff at Lafayette Consolidated Government Community Development Department are embracing holiday door decorating theme and truly decking the halls.
“Well, last year we won, but it was not a competition,” said Kyle Patton with LCG Community Development, very humbly.
And with that bit of history, the pressure was on for the good folks in community development to repeat the tradition as Christmas door decorating champions at LCG.
“I decided to do a quarantine Christmas stuck with a song theme, so that's why we have, ‘all I want for Christmas is you...to stay six feet away from me,” says McKenzie Billeaudeaux, with LCG Community Development.
All in good fun - and the elements were certainly all there - even a toilet paper roll Santa Claus. Wonder where all the tissue went?
"Oops,” laughs Billeaudeaux. “It was clear I needed it...for my artistic vision."
There was strong competition including a heated battle of sorts among members of various departments. LCG communications cross-pollinated the year 2020 with the pandemic with the movie, “A Christmas Story.”
"Well I think the movie itself is about how not every Christmas is perfect, but you're together,” says Kathryn Reaux with the LCG Communications Department. “I think a lot of that is 'this hasn't been a great year, but we're together, though apart. So, I think there's a lot of ways you can tie 2020 being not everything you hoped for, but still we got through it."
The LCG Budgeting Department was true to itself by moving things around and slicing and dicing the numbers.
“Well, we cut the budget this year. Been the big news all year long. I know I've been watching it on TV. So we cut the budget for Santa, too," says Sandra Guillory, LCG senior budget analyst.
The run for the gold was fierce, and the decision makers were myself, some guy from another station and the detail-oriented eyes of Bernadette Lee.
“Awesome Christmas judge,” Lee says.
And as she juggled the numerous pandemic holiday themes, her royal awesomeness also found the whole door judging experience as a bit therapeutic.
“And after this, I feel a little bit better about things this year, honestly,” she said. “Because I know there are so many good hearted people in the world, and everybody's trying to have fun with it.”
There were 10 competitors: communications finished first, ending the streak of second place community development, while budgeting came in third.
And to the Grinches who didn’t decorate a door?
“Oh, y'all missed out on so much fun,” said Guillory. “That's what this is really all about. It's just making Christmas fun.”
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