The instructions for the fifth annual PAPA Patriotic Home Decorating Contest were simple: decorate your house in a patriotic manner and send a photo to the parade organizing committee via e-mail or Facebook by July 1. Contest officials would narrow the field down and make a final selection on July 3.
Twelve houses made the final cut, and at the end of two hours of judging, the competition was tied between the Mercer family home at 833 Toyopa (which was awarded first in 2010 and placed second in 2008, 2011 and 2012) and the Lantz home at 513 El Medio, a first-year entrant.
The Mercer house, as always, had flags, bunting, signs and ribbons, and when the judges stopped by, the family came to the door wearing Palisades-Will Rogers Run T-shirts and straw hats, while singing “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”
The performers included Jim (general counsel for HCP, Inc.), Vicki (a behavioral pediatrician), and their children Andrew (a U.S. government statistician) and his wife Kristin Holt, Katie Mercer and husband Jorge Fernandez (lawyers for NBC Universal), Molly (a junior at George Washington majoring in mechanical engineering) and her twin Sam (who is taking a gap year). Son Nick (who works in advertising for Mind Share) had not yet arrived from the East Coast.
PAPA President Rob Weber, one of the judges, later commented, “I’m not sure whether that adds points or takes them away.”
When the judges stopped by the Steve and Terry Lantz home, no one was there, but a neighbor walking her dog lobbied heavily for her El Medio neighbors. “It looks so good at night and they decorate for every holiday,” she said. “They should win first.”
Weber consulted with his fellow judges: Sotheby’s realtor and home decorating contest sponsor Joan Sather, Chamber of Commerce executive director Arnie Wishnick, Palisades Honorary Mayor Jake Steinfeld and Palisadian-Post staff writer Sue Pascoe.
Both 833 Toyopa and 513 El Medio had received 10s (on a scale of 1 to 10). After a second look, the judges named the Mercer home the winner. Both homes received ribbons and subscriptions to the Post. An American flag that flew over the U.S. Capitol was given to the Lantz’s (normally it goes to the winner, but the Mercers had previously received one).
The judging results spread fast, in time to be included the next day in an L.A. Times feature about the Fourth of July in Pacific Palisades.
“Now I can retire from the contest,” Jim Mercer said after receiving his winning ribbon from Steinfeld.
“Next year, we’re going to decorate, but we’re not going to enter,” Vicki added, noting that it took the family a day and a half to put up their display.
The Mercers have entered the contest every year. In 2008, Jim and Sam decorated while the rest of the family was away. When Vicki returned on July 3, the front of the house had been transformed.
“We went to Party Pizzazz on Sunset and purchased anything that resembled patriotic decorations and put them up,” said Jim, who credited Sam, then 15, for the initial impetus to decorate.
That year they placed second against an aggressive effort by Ali and Lauren Hoffman, who decorated their parents’ home on Via de la Paz with streamers in the trees and chalk designs on the sidewalk.
After seeing the Hoffman property, Jim vowed: “We’re gunning for first place next year. Now that we know what it takes to get first, we’ll spend that extra $16.”
Prior to the 2009 contest, Jim not only returned to Party Pizzazz, but also ordered additional banners and bunting. When he and his family learned the contest was on hiatus, they still decorated.
In 2010, the Mercers captured first place, edging out Joe and Nina Almarez, who live on Sunset Boulevard. The Mercers tried to reclaim their title in 2011, but the Almarez household took first. Last year, Jim and Jackie Hassett on De Pauw captured the title.
This year the Mercers added red, white and blue hanging paper decorations from trees, and wrapped the pillars by the front door in red and blue ribbon. When they came up short of ribbon for the fourth and final pillar, and were unable to find it locally, they went online and it arrived on July 3, just in time for the judging.
With his years of experience and success with Fourth of July home decorations, Jim Mercer has agreed to be a judge for the 2014 contest.
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