Since 2010, Old Town Lafayette has put on an annual Window Painting Contest during the month of October where local businesses offer their storefront windows to young artists to paint. Paintings range from autumnal themes, spooky Halloween scenes, to Dia de Los Muertos images. Painters, aged kindergarten to 12th grade, have 2 days to paint.
I spoke with Cydney Moore, a student at Centaurus who has been participating in the contest since kindergarten. Her mother, Lisa Klein, is the event chair. She oversees the event’s processes and runs the art showcase at the end of the contest.
Q: In your own words, what is the window painting contest?
Cydney Moore: It’s a community event that’s made mostly for fun, to have fun. It’s something special, and it’s kind of [my mom’s] way of bringing her childhood to Lafayette. It’s more than just a community event for her. It’s a very fun thing and it holds a lot of memories.
Q: What does the contest mean to you, and how long have you been participating?
CM: I’ve been doing it my whole life (children can start in kindergarten), I think I started in the third year of it [the beginning of the contest in Lafayette]. The contest to me is something fun I’ve always done, a way of art and expression, but I also [see] a symbol of my mom in it – when I do it I think of her.
Q: What are awards like?
CM: The whole process is we choose local artists to judge (one is Ms. Deming, an art teacher at Centaurus). They are assigned an age category, matched by artistic ability. They review it and judge it based on composition, story, set up, colors, etc. There is 1st-3rd place, and you can get honorable mentions. Judges give a little blurb about why they chose which piece, and you get a medal or a ribbon depending on what you won.
Q: Tell me more about the history of the contest.
CM: It’s actually from Rye, New York. My mom grew up there, and they had a window painting contest. When she moved here, she thought this would be a perfect place to do it. They’re in their 75th year while we are in our 14th. We used to be affiliated with the Rec Center, but now we are a non-profit. Also, we always do an awards ceremony. We have these wire displays with bats and skulls where we hang color copies of the paintings. If you come by you can grab a color copy of your painting so it is memorialized forever.
Q: How long do paintings remain up?
CM: A few weeks, we hire someone to clean the windows at the end.
Q: What is your favorite part of the painting contest?
CM: The awards ceremony. I like how we do it and the joy of people seeing them all in one space. Being a judge is super fun. People go around and vote for their favorites using stickers, which is one of my favorite parts.
Lafayette’s Annual Window Painting Contest remains a fun experience for all ages to showcase their artistic ability and celebrate the fall and Halloween season. The community comes together at the Fall Festival, which this year is being held on October 26 from 10am-4pm on North Harrison St. between East Simpson and Geneseo (in Old Town Lafayette). Here, the art show will take place where each artists’ paintings will be displayed, along with other fall events such as a farmers market and a pumpkin patch.
