Almost 1,000 participate in Holiday Home Tour for charity

Hundreds of area residents took part Saturday in the 28th annual Holiday Home Tour in Cape Girardeau and Jackson.

Three Cape Girardeau homeowners and three in Jackson pulled out all the stops decorating for the holidays and opened their doors to help raise money for a local charity.

The home tour, organized by Lutheran Family and Children's services, supports a number of local programs, including senior counseling, adoption, crisis pregnancy assistance, parenting classes and Alzheimer's disease support.

Melody Anderson, director of regional development for Lutheran Family and Children's Services, said last year's event raised more than $20,000.

"And every single dollar that we raise stays right here in the Southeast Missouri area," she said.

Tickets for the event were $25 or $30 the morning of the event. Anderson said Saturday although a final count had not been made, the number of tickets sold was near 1,000.

"We are guesstimating at this time, but it's right around 995," she said. "We started the day with over $10,000 of sponsorship money."

The organization's fundraising goal is $25,000.

The homes, which were open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, belonged to Bill and Shelly Zellmer, Dr. David and Laura Babcock, Greg and Vicki Leet, Tyson and Rachel Zahner, Adam and Paige Riley, and Rob and Janet Ruesler.

Volunteers guided tourists through various design elements of each room and pointed out fixtures, furnishings and decorations.

Hostess Brenda Huey, assigned to the Babcock house, said they incorporated the season's hot trend into the decorations.

"Wreaths in mirrors," she said. "That seems to be the trend this year."

But many houses had different aesthetics for different rooms, featuring sometimes a clean gold-and-white scheme in a parlor and a warmer red-and-white dining room palette.

Tourist Sally Glueck said she was impressed with the houses in Jackson.

"We like the trees that are white," she said. "And one of the houses in Jackson has silver and blue decor on it, and it's just the prettiest thing. It's gorgeous."

But she wasn't there to find inspiration for her home's Christmas decorations, she said. Her husband was taking care of those while she was out on the tour.

A reception was held at Aloha Pools in Cape, where tourists were provided refreshments and could enter to win prizes. The prizes included a four-person trip, autographed books and holiday treats.

Anderson said last year's event suffered from poor weather, but this year's event went much more smoothly.

"The feedback was excellent. ... We appreciate all our community support and our corporate support. We wouldn't be able to do it without them, and just thanks to God for such a beautiful day," she said. "Today people were saying that this was one of the best tours they'd ever been on."

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627