Gracie Herigon got ready to hang green and gold Christmas ornaments in the front windows at Main Stay Cafe on Main Street Tuesday morning. The cafe is one of 16 Marshall businesses and organizations taking part in a storefront display competition this holiday season. Members of the public can check out the store windows and vote for their favorite.

MARSHALL — Holiday decorations are starting to go up around Marshall – including at local businesses. On Tuesday morning, Gracie Herigon climbed a step stool to hang ornaments in the front windows at Main Stay Cafe on Main Street.

“We got a bunch of new decorations. We’re doing green and gold this year,” Herigon said.

Main Stay Cafe is one of 16 local businesses taking part in the Downtown Marshall Holiday Storefront Display Competition this month. Area residents are encouraged to check out the decorations in the windows of participating businesses, and vote for their favorite by scanning a QR code.

Some of the storefront displays for the contest put a Christmas twist on local businesses’ usual displays. In the Bike Shop’s front window, decorations like garland and a pair of antlers helped turn a bicycle into Rudolph the reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh.

“We usually decorate for Christmas,” said Bike Shop owner Chad Kulla. This year, the idea to make a sleigh display came partly from some of the seasonal decorations the shop already had, with new touches like a Christmas tree and some new lights. “And we had the fat tire bike, for the snow,” Kulla said.

Kulla said he even planned to add a red light to the front of the bike, to complete the Rudolph theme.

The front windows at Graceful Marilyn Quilt Shoppe often have seasonal displays featuring quilt patterns. For the storefront competition, Graceful Marilyn has two scenes, each with a slightly different tone.

“We kind of did our displays around the quilts,” said Dawn Arends. One window features quilts with more traditional holiday designs and a cozy theme, while the other is themed around the movie “Elf,” with bold colors and a quilt pattern that looks like wrapped presents.

Putting together the storefront displays was both fun, and a way to give customers quilting and decorating ideas, Arends said. “It’s a fun way to show your craftiness, and how people can decorate at home,” she said.

The Lyon County Museum also joined in the competition – it fit well with the museum’s usual holiday decorating, said director Jennifer Andries.

“We always do a front entry tree,” Andries said. “We thought we might as well join in.”

The theme of the tree and decorations in the front entry of the museum changes up every year. “This year, we’ve got the traditional Christmas colors, with red and green and poinsettias,” Andries said. The museum also has an outdoor tree and decorations by the entrance.

Taking part in the display contest was fun, and hopefully also catches people’s eyes, downtown businesspeople said.

“Even as people drive by, they notice our window has changed,” Arends said.

“I think the contest just adds another level of excitement and fun, and gets more people involved,” Kulla said.

The Holiday Storefront Display Competition will be going on through December 31 in downtown Marshall. Members of the public can vote in the competition by looking for the QR code at their favorite participating business and scanning it. More information, including a complete list of participating businesses, is available online at the Downtown Marshall MN page on Facebook.

This weekend, downtown businesses are also holding a holiday season kickoff this Saturday. In addition to checking out Small Business Saturday, people are encouraged to visit Santa and friends at Terrace 1872 from 1-3 p.m.