Keep Lewisville Beautiful program offers community building through competition

“In the last few years, we have tailored the Yard of the Month program to recognize water efficient and native landscapes to help promote and highlight sustainable gardening practices as part of our educational outreach since we are an environmental organization,” said Amy Wells, Keep Lewisville Beautiful Executive Director.

Wells has been with the organization for 18 years and said it’s been popular since she’s been involved. For the holiday season, Keep Lewisville Beautiful started getting nominations for landscape and decorations, so the organization decided to host the Holiday Yard of the Month.

“It took off and is one of our more popular seasonal programs,” Wells said. “We are actually adding a Halloween-themed contest next year for October based on community interest.”

Each year, the organization accepts nominations and generates a list for a self-guided “Lewisville Light” tour. Once voting goes live, the organization will share the drive around map with the community. The competition is fun and friendly, but can get quite competitive, Wells said.

For 2021, the organization had over 7,000 views of the “Lewisville Lights” map that was published and it reached over 10,000 people on Facebook, which helped Keep Lewisville Beautiful reach new people to invite to volunteer for events and programs.

Holiday Yard of the Month voting takes place online and because displays can vary so much, there are four different categories each year: Most Beautiful, Most Creative, Best Musical Show, and Best of the Season.

“I love this program because it brings joy to not only those who want to drive around and see beautiful displays, but because it gives an avenue for others to share their homes with the community,” Wells said. “We have met so many awesome homeowners who participate every year and want to share their passion with others. Several of these homeowners sit outside and hand out candy canes to people driving by, or will sit and have a conversation with you about their new decorations if you catch them outside tinkering. It’s community building. Their love for the holiday season is contagious.

Keep Lewisville Beautiful’s Holiday Yard of the Month voting begins Dec. 14 through Dec. 21. To vote, Keep Lewisville Beautiful will share an online voting link on its website at www.keeplewisvillebeautiful.org.

All winners will be announced by Dec. 23 on the Keep Lewisville Beautiful Facebook page. For more info about this program, please visit https://keeplewisvillebeautiful.org/holiday-yard-of-the-month/.

“Some of these displays are just so fantastic and the creativity never ceases to amaze me,” Wells said. “I’ve met some really awesome community members through this program and look forward to seeing them each year to let them know they have been nominated. Getting to award these families with a yard sign and bragging rights always makes my year. It makes me feel like one of Santa’s elves, delivering the winning signs to put on display in the yards, and then getting to announce it to the community. It’s really fun, makes you feel good, and really gets you into the holiday spirit.”