Fun, family, friends winning combination; contrasting approaches lead to same outcome for NIV contestants
OCEAN CITY — What’s it take to win the Night in Venice Home Decorating Contest? The Sentinel talked to a couple of perennial powerhouse partiers and found highly contrasting styles.
The common denominator? A love of family and friends, making great memories and continuing tradition, but mostly just having fun.
“We enjoy it. Luckily I have a group of people who come that really enjoy it too,” Marlene Thornton said.
“It’s just fun, a good memory for everybody,” Jamie Miller said.
Ocean City’s 68th annual Night in Venice is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday, July 29. A parade of decorated boats from the Ocean City-Longport Bridge, along the bayfront and in and out of the island’s multiple lagoons to Tennessee Avenue is the main event, but over the years a second contest arose.
Wanting to get in on the action, homeowners along the waterfront began hosting parties and decorating their shore houses, some in elaborate themes.
This year’s optional theme is “It’s a Philly Thing.” Retired Action News anchor Jim Gardner will serve as grand marshal, while the Phillie Phanatic and Gritty, mascots of the Philadelphia Phillies and Philadelphia Flyers, will join him.
A winning record
Thornton, a teacher in the Springfield Township School District, lives in Oreland, Pa., with her husband, Mike Thornton. They have three children — Cassie Fritze, Amy Thornton and Tim Thornton — and get help from mother-in-law Loretta Thornton, who will be 90 in September.
They bought the house in 1999 and spent their first summer there in 2000, but did not start competing until 2007 or 2008.
“We didn’t even enter at first; we just decorated and had a party,” Thornton said.
Last year they took first place in Zone 5 with Broad Street on the Bay, featuring Mummers.
“I’m a very competitive Night in Venice contestant,” Thornton said, noting last year was their 12th or 13th win in a row.
The Thorntons have also won with Night in Venus, Under the Sea in O.C., Sitting on the Deck of the Bay, Firefighters Save the Bay and Hoe Down at the O.C. Corral, which was featured on the front of the Ocean City Sure Guide, sister publication to the Sentinel.
Miller and her husband, Chris Miller, live in Medford with their children Tommy, 16, and Jack, 13. Last year they took first place in Zone 7 with “Top Gun.”
“I love to do it. I like arts and crafts,” Miller said. “I feel like the more you have up, the more fun it is.”
The family used to live in his parents’ house five doors down and have won at both homes. Some of their other winning themes were Second Period, Starry Eyes, We Back the Blue, Night in Venison and Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini. Their shore house includes a display of pictures from each of their wins as well as certificates and other items.
Different approach but same outcome
While Thornton and Miller have won multiple times over the years, their approaches to preparation are drastically different.
Thornton spends a month making decorations and costumes for each of her 30 to 40 guests, while Miller hosts a pizza party and decorates the night before, counting on her 50 or so guests to mostly outfit themselves for the big event.
“I tell them to wear a base and spend about a month getting everything ready,” Thornton said, noting good friends Bonnie Brady and Monica Femovich help make the decorations and costumes.
This year she is paying tribute to her father — William Foust, a semiprofessional magician who died in 2013 — with A Magical Night in Venice, complete with an 18-foot-tall magician sawing his lovely assistant in half.
Among her many decorations are rabbits popping out of hats and doves. Costumes will include playing cards and more rabbits.
Thornton even choreographs a dance number.
“I am theatrical, a theater teacher, but the people that come and dance are carpenters, lawyers, doctors,” she said. “That is the side of my brain that works as a teacher of theater, but don’t let me do your taxes or you will be in prison.”
Down the street at the Miller house, they are a lot more laid back, at least compared with the Thorntons.
The Millers have a long, multigenerational tradition of hosting parties for Night in Venice. Chris Miller took his first steps at his parents’ Ocean City home and spent summers there his entire life.
“It’s such a memory-maker. My husband remembers when he was a little boy being here, when he was in high school being here, when he was in college coming back,” Miller said, noting she would join him when they were dating “and now my kids are doing it.”
She said they have friends over the night before the parade and decorate the house.
“I get everything ready and on Friday night everybody comes over, we order pizza and everyone just puts stuff wherever they want to put it,” she said.
Miller also is more relaxed when it comes to costumes.
“I love, love, love the decorating but not the dressing up,” she said. “We try to keep it real simple. We just try to do something casual that captures the excitement of the night.”
Why do they go to so much effort?
“I love Night in Venice; it’s second only to Christmas,” Thornton said. “If I do something I tend to do it all the way. People seem like they are having a good time. It’s fun to watch the boats be entertained back.”
Miller, who will have a “Rocky” theme this year, said it’s just a good time.
“I just love the atmosphere, everybody being outside,” she said, noting they like to visit neighboring homes and watch the parade. “We just make it fun. No stress, just have fun.”
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff