10th Annual Light Up the Night Visitor Choice Awards bestowed to St. Augustine businesses

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - March 8, 2023 - PRLog -- Local business owners, community leaders, residents, and guests riding the famous Old Town Trolley, Nights of Lights tours have voted for the top three hospitality businesses that displayed elaborate holiday lighting during the 10^th Annual Light Up the Night! contest.

The City of St. Augustine's Nights of Lights is world-renowned for more than three million sparkling lights stretching for nearly 20 blocks with the event held from November 19, 2022 to January 31, 2023. The international visitor and local business experience started 30 years ago and is consistently voted as one of the Top 10 "Best Holiday Lighting Displays in the World" and "Best Places To Spend Christmas In The U.S." along with additional acclaims by domestic and international publications, broadcasts, and travel sites.

This year's Nights of Lights Visitors Choice Awards honors and prizes were presented to first-place winners at the Hilton St. Augustine Bayfront, owned by Kanti Patel, Chief Executive Officer and President of Jalaram Hotels Inc. with honors presented to Scott Dial, General Manager, plus the management and engineering team. Second-place winners were named at the Casablanca Inn On The Bay and the Tini Martini Bar with Victoria Lege, General Manager, and the engineering team including Eric Shaw and Harry Andrews. Third place was awarded to Raintree Restaurant and owner Lorna MacDonald with her operations staff.

Each winner installed their own illuminations with teams from operations and ownership while installing more than 100,000 to 1.2 million lights and a variety of festive, holiday designs on display on the exteriors and inside the buildings. Also, each winner has participated in ten years of the friendly promotion and competition.

Businesses and owners receiving top votes for lighting displays received customized trophies and $5,000 in complimentary advertising campaigns, cash, and public recognition for their involvement and hard work. Partners in the prize promotions included Old Town Trolley; St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce; St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra and The Beaches Visitors and Convention Bureau; Mint Magazine, and WSOS-FM 103.9.

Dial was presented with $1,000 in prize money for the hotel, Shaw was presented with $750 in prize money for the Inn, and MacDonald was awarded $500 in prize money for the restaurant. Chatterton gave all winners a collectible USB thumb drive complete with event details, graphics, and logos about this year's Nights of Lights. Winners were thankful for the print and radio advertising benefits provided as part of the prize package. For more information, visit www.trolleytours.com/holidaylightcontest and https://www.trolleytours.com/st-augustine or call (904) 829-3800.