The Hamilton County Criminal Court Clerk’s Office is holding its ninth annual Christmas and Holiday Decorating contest. Each year since 2014, the clerk’s office has held a decorating contest. The three separate offices start their decorating shortly before Thanksgiving and the contest will be judged this Thursday, before the offices annual Christmas luncheon.
Criminal Court Clerk Vince Dean said that the competition is sometimes spirited with a lot of “smack talk” included. The Payment Center Office is the reigning champion and has adopted the theme of A Chattanooga Christmas for this year. The Session’s Criminal Division went with the theme of A Winter Wonderland, while the Criminal Court Clerk Office chose to decorate as An Old Fashioned Christmas.
Beyond the decorations, this year the office is also collecting toys for the Chattanooga Forgotten Child Fund. According to Chief of Staff Jason Clark, the boxes are filling up fast.
Mr. Dean and Mr. Clark both added that most folks visiting the courts building are not always happy to be there. They said, "This is our way of bringing a smile to a few of those faces."