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Johnson City's 'Ugliest Lawn Contest'
The City of Johnson City is offering an "Ugliest Lawn Contest" in an effort to incentivize residents to conserve water.
JOHNSON CITY, Texas - You've probably heard of "nicest lawn" contests, but Johnson City is putting a spin on that, and having an "ugliest lawn" contest.
Mayor Stephanie Fisher says she wanted to find a fun way to deal with the ongoing drought.
"I woke up one morning, and I had this idea, 'what if?' What if we wanted to encourage people to not water their lawns by doing the opposite of a lawn of the week contest and have an ugly lawn contest?" she said. "Instead of everybody complaining about their dead yard, everybody being proud of your dead yard. My idea was that just because your yard is completely dead doesn't mean it can't be a point of pride."
Samantha Eddleman has lived in Johnson City for 12 years.
"When June was not nearly as wet as we all thought it was going to be, and we were out here trying to water it, and it was just dust clouds, so we just sort of went with it, it was feast or famine, and we were not going to feed the whole thing," she said. "It's a really neat way to bring the community together and sort of celebrate what we all kind of hate is that our yards have to look like this because this weather has been killing everything."
City staff will be judging in the contest. Your lawn still has to be mowed and kept. It will be based on how dead your yard is and how little water you've used.
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Fisher says so far, they've had eight entries.
The top three winners will get Visa gift cards ranging from $50-$150.
The city will also accept unique water saving initiatives as entries, like rock or vegetable gardens instead of grass or water-hungry plants.
If you want to enter, send a picture of your lawn to wwalston@johnsoncitytx.org. Be sure to include your address in the email.
First, second and third prize winners will receive $150, $100 and $50 Visa Gift Cards, respectively.
The contest runs from August 18 - Sept. 15. Photos must be submitted by 5 p.m. on Sept. 15. Winners will be contacted by email on or before Sept. 22.