Holiday Decorating Contest: How Voting Works & How to Win

What the Longview Holiday Decorating Contest is and who runs it

The Longview Holiday Decorating Contest is a community wide decorating ballot for Longview, Texas, run jointly by Visit Longview, the Longview Hospitality and Tourism Association, and the City of Longview Parks Department. The invitation goes out to Longview residences and businesses: decorate your home or business, or just vote for your favorites. Entry is free, and the program sits under the Featured Events section of the Visit Longview TX website rather than on any third party contest platform.

That hosting choice matters for anyone following the results. Because the contest is published on visitlongviewtexas.com itself, the rules, the entry form and the tour map are all published in the same place, and the address on the page points to the Visitor Center and Gift Shop at 109 W. Tyler Street, Longview, TX 75601. The program is best-of in character: the public decides which decorated residence and which decorated business stands out each December, and the organizers describe the event as annual and community wide.

The facts below are the ones the contest page states directly.

The dated record: 2024 and 2025 windows and what is not printed

The confirmed editions run in 2024 and 2025, both in December. For 2024, the page carried an entry period open through Monday, December 9, 2024, and voting that ran through Sunday, December 22, 2024. For 2025, the page printed a Voting Period of Monday, December 8 through Sunday, December 21, with entry photos posted on Facebook on Monday, December 8, 2025, Facebook likes voting ending at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, December 21, 2025, and winners announced through a Facebook post on Monday, December 22, 2025.

Several facts sit outside those printed dates. The contest page publishes no category list, so how entries are grouped, if they are grouped at all, is something to confirm on the live ballot each cycle. Exact open and close days for the next December are likewise not yet printed, and the page states no vote limit per supporter and no eligibility rules beyond the residence and business framing. The 2024 page also shows the entry window and the voting window overlapping in early December, which suggests the same pattern may repeat, though the 2025 dates above are the only ones stated for that cycle.

What the dates do establish is a consistent late December rhythm: photos up at the start of the window, likes closing on the final Sunday night, and a winners post the following Monday.

How a supporter votes in the Longview contest today

The mechanic has two tracks, and they are not worth the same. The page tells supporters they will be able to vote for their favorite residence and business either online, which earns the entry 1 point, or in person, which earns 5 points. The in person route follows a self guided tour map that the organizers publish with each cycle, so a supporter can plan an evening drive past the decorated entries and log visits as they go.

Alongside the point voting there is a Facebook layer. Entry photos are posted on Facebook at the start of the window, which fell on Monday, December 8, 2025, and a round of voting by Facebook likes runs until 11:59 p.m. on the closing Sunday. In 2025 that was Sunday, December 21. The winners announcement then comes through a Facebook post, on Monday, December 22, 2025 in the latest cycle.

For a supporter, the practical sequence is simple: look at the photos online, pick favorites, decide whether to click or to drive, and place any Facebook likes before the Sunday night deadline. For an entrant, the same structure dictates where to focus encouragement, because a visit worth 5 points changes a leaderboard far faster than a click worth 1. The page prints no rule on how many times one person may vote in either track, so anyone planning a repeat visit schedule should read the live instructions when the window opens.

How this ballot sits beside its Texas neighbours

Longview's contest is a city scale decorating ballot, and it differs from the large Texas reader polls in three ways. First, the subject is physical displays rather than businesses or people, so the campaign happens on front lawns and storefronts, not in print or online directories. Second, the host is the Visit Longview tourism site itself, not a media publisher or a contest platform. Third, the point weighting, 5 points for an in person visit against 1 point online, actively pushes supporters off the couch and onto the tour map, which is rare among public ballots of any kind.

The nearest neighbours in this directory are the state's big best-of programs: the Best of Austin Readers Poll, the Best of Dallas Readers' Choice, Best of El Paso, Best of Houston, Best of San Antonio, and Best of Fort Worth. None of those runs a decorating format, and none weights physical visits over clicks. A Longview entrant competing in December is therefore not drawing from the same supporter pool as a business in an Austin readers poll; the audience is local, seasonal, and motivated by the tour itself.

For readers comparing programs across the state, the useful distinction is institutional: this ballot answers to a tourism association and a city parks department, which keeps its rules short and its calendar anchored to the holidays.

Strengthening support in a points based decorating ballot

Because in person visits carry 5 points against 1 point online, the highest value move for a Longview entrant is getting people physically to the door. A short note to customers, neighbours and staff with the tour map link, an evening when the display is at its best, and a reminder that the Facebook likes round closes at 11:59 p.m. on the final Sunday covers most of what a household campaign needs. The organizers set no published rule on outside help, so the practical ceiling is the point structure itself, not any printed restriction.

Entrants who want a broader playbook can read our guide to getting more votes online, and businesses weighing paid support for award ballots generally can review how award vote purchasing is structured. Neither changes the arithmetic here: a driven visit is worth five clicks, so a handful of committed visitors outperforms a large passive list.