By Mark Shaffer
The Ironton Tribune

It is time to drag the skeletons out of the closet and ghosts out of the attic to decorate your yard or business because Ironton aLive is having its first Halloween decorating contest with prizes.
Ironton aLive co-chair Marey Long came up with the idea.
“I just got to thinking about it and there is so much negativity in the world and our little town, I thought ‘You know what? Let’s do something fun,’” she said. “The whole purpose of creating this contest, is to gather the community together in a positive way and have fun.”
Long said she and her daughter were out for an evening walk and dropped off a lot of contest flyers at houses that are already decorated for Halloween.
“I love it,” she said. “For me, the bigger the better. We saw one house that has a ton of skeletons doing all kinds of stuff. I loved it. There are some that are really gory and have blood everywhere.”
For businesses, they can decorate their window, lobby or have out outdoor décor.
For residences, it is outdoor décor only. Entries must include addresses.
Long said there will be one business that wins and there will be first, second and third place for residents.
“The winning business will win a free lunch for their employees from the Shakery, which is contest sponsor,” she said. “For the residences, the first place wins $100, second wins $75 and third wins $50. Those prizes are sponsored by Rent-2-Own.”
All you have to do is decorate and then post photos of your spooky scene on to m.lo.sales22@gmail.com. The photos must be entered by Oct. 24. The entries will be posted that day on Ironton aLive’s Facebook page and the judging will be done by popular vote.
“I’m going to post a big entry on social media on Oct. 24 and then it gives social media one week to vote. On Halloween, I will release the results,” Long said. “I want everyone on social media to have a voice in this.”
Long said she hopes that the Halloween contest and an upcoming Christmas decorating contest not only get a lot of entries but turn into an Ironton tradition.
“I’ll post the pictures and the addresses and then everyone can go out and drive around and look at them,” Long said. “People have done a lot of work and have some great decorations.”