Shoppers in Red Apple grocery stores from Alaska to Oregon leave their stores with their holiday purchases and a little bit of art from a Coupeville girl.

The brown paper bags exiting the Red Apple grocery stores are all decorated in a winter scene of a jolly snowman, a decorated Christmas tree and starry snowflakes, drawn by 11-year-old Courtney Arnold of Coupeville.

Courtney said last November, she was passing the Prairie Center Red Apple in Coupeville with her grandpa, Dave Ingle, when they saw the advertisements for a holiday scene drawing contest. Her grandpa asked her if she would like to try for it and she said yes. So she took a few paper bags home with her and she just began to doodle.

Ken Hofkamp, owner of the Coupeville Red Apple, said, out of the 38 regional Red Apple stores, managers and owners pick out their store’s contest winners and send them into the regional office.

Lenora Swartz, administrative assistant to Phill Baker, the general manager and president of the Red Apple Markets in Alaska, Washington and Oregon, said Red Apple Markets offers a “Complete the Picture Contest” every year, in order to get a design for their holiday season paper bags.

“The kids totally enjoy it each year,” she said.

The children are given paper bags with part of a picture or designs on it and are asked to creatively finish or add to the picture. After receiving all of the entries, the bags are judged and the winner’s picture is reproduced onto thousands of paper bags.

“We had 400 entries judged from Washington,” Swartz said.

Out of the entries from Washington, plus those from the other two states in the region, the regional office judges chose Courtney’s design.

Courtney’s mom, Sylvia Arnold, said Courtney did the drawing last holiday season when she was 10-years-old, and they had almost forgotten about the contest when Swartz called them in the summer to tell them Courtney had won the contest.

“They said that Courtney had won the grand sweepstakes,” Arnold said.

By this, Arnold said they meant Courtney won a trip to Disneyland for her and her family, paid for by Red Apple Markets.

This November, Courtney, her parents and her two brothers spent Thanksgiving on Disneyland rides and ate fish, chicken and chips for their holiday dinner.

Courtney said she had fun on her trip and has enjoyed seeing her drawing on bags. She said she has even received positive comments from classmates at Coupeville Middle School.

“They thought it was cool, and at school they say, ‘Oh, I saw your name and picture on the bags at the store.’”

Courtney said she would encourage any kid to get their paper out and just start drawing. Her mother encourages kids to strike out and enter contests just for fun.

“Give it a try. You never know,” she said.

Swartz said the Red Apple Markets have all their contest drawings in for the 2005 holiday bag.

“We’ve got all the entries for next year,” she said. “But we haven’t judged them yet.”

Hofkamp said he has heard great comments on the picture and even greater comments when local shoppers find out it is a drawing from a Coupeville girl.