Submitted Photo Pictured is Cattoo’s winning Christmas tree.

The second annual United Community Christmas Contest has come to a close, and Cattoo’s has successfully defended their creative crown. The contest is run among local businesses to help determine who can create the best Christmas tree. The participants pay an entry fee, and the photos are posted to Facebook to collect likes. The tree with the most likes wins and declares who will split the proceeds with the United Way of Northern Chautauqua County. This year, Cattoo’s gathered more than 600 likes and loves on their tree allowing them to easily cruise to the victory.

The contest was made possible by the donation of trees by the McTaggart family of Stockton. The family has generously donated more than 50 trees over the last two years as a part of this project. The Facebook album was seen by more than 21,000 people and garnered over 8,000 engagements over the course of the 10 day period when voting was open. Adam Dolce, executive director of the United Way commented, “This project has really been a hit with the participants and the community. It has been so much fun to see the response the last two years. We are so appreciative of the generosity of the businesses that take part.”

Two of the contest participants adopted families as part of the program, providing gifts for children, gift cards for parents, and some home baked goodies for the families. The staff at the Chautauqua Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and Bahgat & Laurito-Bahgat provided a van full of items intended to bring Christmas cheer and make the holiday a little brighter. Ag Team, in the City of Dunkirk, also collected dozens of items that were donated to Chautauqua County Rural Ministry as part of their holiday program. Shults Auto, took a slightly different angle, and sponsored a local not-for-profit in this year’s contest, allowing the Boys and Girls club to enter their club tree. At the end of the contest some of the trees were donated to local families. The businesses that took part in the area were; Grace and Abe’s, Can Kings Irving and Fredonia, Hamlet Farms, North Chautauqua Dental, the Columbus Club, Domus Fare, M&T Bank, Fredonia Place, Dunkirk Library, Liberty Vineyards, Larry Spacc, Dunkirk Econo-Lodge, and the Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation.

The highlight is the opportunity for the winning business to give back to a local agency. Cattoo’s donated this year’s prize of $1,000 to the Boys and Girls Club of Northern Chautauqua County. The entire Cattoo’s team was involved in decorating and setting up the tree, and all members of the staff were on hand for the check presentation to the Boys and Girls club. Dolce said, “This project provides a lot of benefit to those that are involved. The businesses always report on how it seems to bring the staff together, our United Way and the Boys and Girls club certainly appreciate the donation, and local families have a little more to look forward to as a result of this.”

The United Way of Northern Chautauqua County’s mission is to empower our local community through education, financial stability and health. One in three of our neighbors have been impacted by local outcome based programming, funded by strategic investments of $ 4,010,150 since 1999. The United Way is located at 626 Central Avenue, Dunkirk. Visit us on the web at www.unitedwayncc.org; follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.