No Disguising the Fun in the 2021 Office Costume Contest
By Jason Woods, OCPR Programs & Facilities Supervisor,
There once was a time when masks were primarily used for fun, to disguise oneself as something new for a few fleeting hours, usually around the end of October. That was certainly the case when the Orange County Parks & Recreation office began its “ Office Costume Contest ” way back in 2014. Inspired by the Treasurer ’ s Office ’ s group costume in 2013, the contest sought to expand the fun to office spaces throughout Orange County. Faye ’ s Office Supply immediately got on board to sponsor the event and have supported it each year since. This year, JB Cakes and Philosopher ’ s Stone Pizza joined as sponsors to add even more prize value! We are pleased to report that the seed planted all those years ago has taken a solid root, and the contest has regularly grown in both number of entries, number of participants, creativity, and quality of costumes year after year. Orange County Treasurer ’ s Office 1 st
This year, the Orange County Treasurer ’ s Office took home the gold for their sweet Willy Wonka concept, beginning a two - year winning streak! Second Place was awarded to the perennially competitive Orange County Office on Youth who went wild with their Zoo theme. Interestingly for those keeping score at home, these two competitors are tied at 3 wins each over the history of the contest. By themselves, each exceeds the total number of wins by other groups, which has happened only twice, once in 2014 (Dogwood Village Activities Department), and again in 2019 (Orange County Building Development). Third place was earned by the Grymes Memorial School Specials Teachers, cracking both eggs and smiles with their breakfast theme, while also taking home the “ Cutest ” superlative. Other superlative award winners included the Orange County Commissioner of the Revenue ’ s Hippies “ Happiest ” entry and newcomer Paint it Orange ’ s “ Funniest ” Bob Ross painting entry held in partnership with the James Madison Museum of Orange County Heritage.
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Orange County Office on Youth
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From an organizer ’ s perspective, we were grateful to have 18 entries in the 2021 contest, comprised of 107 individual participants! Facebook engagement remained high this year, with
Grymes Memorial School Specials Teachers
an organic reach of nearly 10,000, including 1.5k post clicks and 294 reactions. Contest related activity also garnered almost 50 new likes for the Orange County Parks & Recreation Facebook page. We ’ re looking forward to 2022. It will be hard to top this year ’ s contest, but we say that every year.
Page 11 | November, 2021
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