Riverhead, Long Island, unfortunately, has an abundance of empty stores on its historic Main Street.
This Christmas season, East End Arts sponsored a contest where participants decorate the front windows of these abandoned businesses. Residents and visitors then filled out ballots to vote for their favorites.
The crowd favorite, by far: Occupy the North Pole".
The winner was the cutout Occupy the North Pole display, with dozens of angry cutout elves, many with protest signs, assembled by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Elves, according to the application filed with the arts group. The display featured protest signs, police pepper-spraying some demonstrators, and Rudolph with a sign asking why Santa gets all the cookies every year.
Other protesting elves promised “Silent Night, Not Tonight.”
Although I'm sure that humor trumps politics in this instance, it's a pretty wonderful idea to decorate the storefronts of abandoned Main Street businesses...it makes people yearn for a vibrant downtown.
And just to remind ourselves that some local politicians haven't necessarily followed the lead of our national politicians:
Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter had a half-moment’s pause when the results of the contest were announced at Tuesday’s town board meeting.
“An occupy group ... we’ll have to look at that,” said Walter, the former chairman of the town Conservative Party, making his own little joke.
Here's the article...it's Newday so it's uninformative:
http://www.newsday.com/...