Bay Ridge students decorate store windows with Halloween art

October 27, 2015 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Sara Dang (left) and Jessica Chin paint a witch on the window of Lens Lab Express. Eagle photos by Paula Katinas

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Bay Ridge is getting ready for Halloween with a little help from local students who visited the neighborhood’s shopping strips Tuesday morning to paint store windows and give shoppers a scary thrill.

It was all part of the 63rd Annual Halloween Poster and Storefront Window Painting Contest, an event sponsored by the Bay Ridge Community Council.

Each year, the community council invites public, private and parochial schools to send students to commercial areas like Third Avenue, Fifth Avenue and 86th Street to paint store windows in a Halloween theme.

The students, ranging in age from elementary school youngsters to high schoolers, create the artwork themselves. The young artists paint posters in school and then re-create the artwork on store windows, with the permission of the store owners, of course.

The youngsters came up with all sorts of scenes that are sure to send a chill down the spine.

Sara Dang and Jessica Chin, for instance, were busy painting a witch flying past a full moon accompanied by bats on the window of Lens Lab Express at 482 86th St. The girls were among several students from P.S./I.S. 104 taking part in the contest.

The community council has a team of judges who award gold, silver and bronze awards to the paintings deemed the most creative. The prizes will be handed out at a ceremony at a later date.

The artwork will remain in the store windows for several weeks.

The Bay Ridge Community Council is an umbrella group composed of nearly 100 member organizations, including business groups, church organizations, senior citizen clubs and Parent-Teach Assocations. Established in 1951, the community council is dedicated to improving the quality of life for residents of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Fort Hamilton.