By Clare Marie Celano
Correspondent
FREEHOLD – The Freehold Borough Human Relations Committee is inviting residents to participate in a beautification contest.
The contest is the first one sponsored by the committee and is being held in conjunction with the mayor’s spring cleanup incentive program.
The beautification contest is being offered as an additional incentive to keep Freehold Borough looking good, said Carol Lida, who chairs the Human Relations Committee. Local businesses will sponsor prizes.
On behalf of the committee, Lida thanked community members for their ongoing encouragement and support.
“As spring and summer are quickly upon us, we look forward to supporting community efforts, as well as beautifying our great town,” she said.
Projects for the contest may include property repairs, painting, landscaping or cleaning up a property, according to Gianna Dell’Omo, who is the Human Relations Committee’s vice chairwoman.
She said prizes for first, second and third place will be awarded, providing that at least 20 entries are received.
The contest winner will receive a grill valued at $169 and provided by Home Depot, Freehold Township.
The Freehold Downtown Partnership in collaboration with the American Hotel, A Little Bit of Cuba Dos, Federici’s Italian restaurant and Metropolitan Cafe will sponsor the second place award of gift certificates valued at $125. The third place award will be a $75 credit card gift card.
“We are very excited about giving people a chance to make a difference in town,” Dell’Omo said.
She said residents, business operators and organizations should submit “before” and “after” photos of a project, relating to their property. All projects must be completed within Freehold Borough’s town limits.
“If the participant is a tenant and does not own a property, he must have permission from the property owner to begin the project,” Dell’Omo said.
Entries must include the address of a project, contact information, participant’s name, address and phone number, a description of the improvement project in 50 words or less, dates the “before” and “after” photos were taken, the number of hours spent completing the work and the cost of the project.
The projects will be judged on the contrast of the “before” and “after” photos; the overall look of the completed work; the inviting look of property upon completion; and the appropriateness of appearance.
Rules and entry forms may be downloaded from www.freeholdboroughnj.gov.
Entries and photos may be sent or delivered to Pat Ruegger at Borough Hall, 51 W. Main St., or emailed to pruegger@freeholdboro.org by May 22. Prize winners will be announced at the Memorial Day parade on May 29.
