Rockville Centre names the winners of its holiday lights contest

Rockville Centre homeowners and businesses embraced the holiday season with a little friendly competition. For the fourth year in a row, the village invited residents to spread joy, by decorating the community with wondrous displays and shimmering lights.

The holiday lights contest started in 2020, as a way to keep the holiday spirit alive in the community, at a time when many of the fun and traditional holiday events were canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nearly 30 individual homes, and five different blocks, signed up to participate from December 12 to December 19. The winning homes were announced on Wednesday, Dec. 20, after press time.

The village presented first prize in the Clark Griswold category to 174 Pine Street, with the second prize awarded to 47 Fenway. In the Martha Stewart category, first prize was awarded to 17 Hollywood Court, while the second prize was presented to 2 Woods Place. First prize in the “family friendly” category was awarded to 6 Olive Court, for it fun and festive decorations, while second prize was presented to 21 Hamilton Street.

In the best block category, this year’s first prize was presented to Arbor Lane. Coming in close for the second prize was Kent Court. In recognition of this collaborative effort, a street sign will be presented to the winning block in January

For the first time since the contest began, the village decided to remove its “party in lights” category from the list. Instead, two new categories were introduced to help spice up the competition.

First prize for the best municipal building category was awarded to the Rockville Centre Fire Department’s Reliance Hose Company No. 3 for their decorations of the firehouse at 137 N. Forest Avenue.

Montemarano Plumbing was also presented with first prize in the best business category, for its absolutely vibrant light display on N. Long Beach Road that is hard to miss.