The crowning moment has finally arrived!

After months of collecting fabulous Outer Banks t-shirt designs for our t-shirt design contest, we narrowed the field down to five amazing pieces of art, and Tuesday we opened the final stage of voting on our Facebook page.

It was a 24-hour period of heated voting with two awesome designs battling it out down to the last minute of voting at midnight. And in the end, the fabulous “Mermaid” design, created by Ms. Patsy Bachus Ridlon, was crowned the victor!

I asked Patsy if there was a story behind the design, and here’s what she had to say…

Yes! I’m southern, so I always have a good story:)

I was raised in Asheville, North Carolina, and now live in the Pacific Northwest, soon to move to the coast of Oregon. Still, the Outer Banks has a feeling and life all it’s own. There is no place like it.

The first time I visited the Outer Banks, I was a kid. That was 30 years ago. We went to a local restaurant and the waitress was so beautiful she looked like she belonged on the front of a ship!

She and her family had lived there for generations. She had the most exotic green eyes, so she made me think of the mermaid and the Pirate bandana she is wearing.

The horse, turtle, fish, crab, the dolphin hidden in the wave, the little seahorse…all the wildlife, to me, is one of the most amazing and important parts of the Outer Banks.

Horses! I love the wild horses.

She is part of the ocean and the OBX, and protecting it, as the people of the Outer Banks do.

The Surfboard, energy and fun!

Thank you for having the contest, it was great. I am sooo happy to be a tiny part of this. All the designs were amazing, and I am honored to have won. Please thank your awesome staff. I read about you all every day. You’re my link to my favorite place.

Thank you!
Patsy

Awesome description.

It is amazing how much the Outer Banks can effect people. There is so much “everyday magic” on the Outer Banks. So much so, that we can be changed by it and not even realize it’s happening. I can speak from experience (as I’m sure most of y’all can as well). I grew up in Boston, but after vacationing on the Outer Banks a couple times, I knew this is where I wanted to spend every available minute. Now, here I am with my entire life built around this amazing place.

Patsy lives on the opposite side of the country – 3k miles away? – yet she stays tuned into our daily updates everyday, took the time to enter our t-shirt design contest, and created the winning design based on inspiration from her first OBX visit 30 years ago!  Amazing!

Great design, and great story. Thanks so much Patsy.

This was such a fun contest! We can’t wait to see the great design on the Seaside Vacations 2012 t-shirt, and we can’t wait to do it again next year! Get your creative thinking caps on.

T-shirts will be available soon. We’ll be sure to announce it as soon as they are ready. Stay tuned!

Outer Banks T-Shirt Design Contest: "Mermaid" - Winning Design