Festive spirit unleashed as Southport holds its 3rd annual storefront showcase

December 2, 2023

Conor Doherty,

SOUTHPORT, NC (WWAY) — One of Southport’s newest traditions is back and it’s bringing some holiday cheer to stores throughout the town.

The 3rd annual Southport Storefront Showcase began on December 2nd as stores compete for the best-decorated storefront.

16 stores are taking part, with 5 different categories for customers to vote on: most original, most traditional, most kid-friendly, biggest surprise, and best overall.

Allayna Dail is the assistant director of community relations for Southport. She says the town wanted to try something different from its usual community events.

“Three years ago, when we decided to start the event, we did so because we realized that we didn’t really have any events that were focused around our stores here in Southport, just other community ventures and so we were really excited to get started,” Dail said.

Pamela Burnett is the manager of Lexi-B’s boutique, who won best overall during the showcase’s first year.

She said the event brings the entire town closer together while also challenging each other in a friendly way.

“You know, Southport is such a small, it’s like small town US,” Burnett said. “You automatically feel like you’re sort of in a Hallmark movie. So the more people that participate, we get very competitive. We’re in competition with another store, Cat on a Whisk. There’s some other stores. So we have this little friendly rivalry going, kind of like football season.”

Business participating include: