Vankleek Hill Christmas Home Tour

~ Press Release July 9, 2024

The Vankleek Hill Christmas Home Tour returns on November 2, 2024. If your not-for-profit group would like to participate in the event and enjoy a share of the proceeds, submit your request by July 30, 2024, for consideration.

The Vankleek Hill Christmas Home Tour is looking for local, not-for-profit community groups who would like to be considered to share in the proceeds from the November 2, 2024 event.

Here is how it works. Local not-for-profit organizations can provide six or more volunteers to help at the annual event, and in return, the not-for-profit organization will receive a share of the event proceeds.

The Christmas Home Tour takes place on November 2, 2024, from 10 am to 4 pm and features six homes, beautifully decorated — inside and out — for the holidays. Volunteers will give three hours of their time on tour day to be inside or outside one of the homes and act as ambassadors at the event.

Volunteers are also invited to attend the evening before, a pre-tour reception, followed by an exclusive evening tour of all the homes.

The event is returning after a four-year hiatus, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, says organizer Louise Sproule, who is presenting the event under the auspices of Louise Sproule, Realtor.

“As recently as the spring of 2023, we asked homeowners if they were willing to open their homes to hundreds of visitors, but they weren’t quite ready at that time to say yes,” says Sproule. But in early 2024, things had improved.

“We have six homes and decorators lined up and ready to go for November 2,” says Sproule.
Offers to volunteer are pouring in, she says, but an important reason for the event is that it supports the community in many ways. The town is bustling with visitors on that day, but Sproule wants to be sure that the tradition of collaborating with not-for-profit organizations continues.

Having sold The Review, which had previously spearheaded the event for several years, she is now presenting the event on her own, she says.

“Well, not exactly on my own — there is a whole town working with me,” she added.

The popular church luncheons are in the works, all of the top-quality Christmas trees and greenery are being supplied by Scherer Gardening and Landscaping, and The Review’s new owners will be providing support and allowing the use of the reception area and washrooms on tour day, just like old times, Sproule explained. Jan Amell Photography is this year’s official show photographer.

While the decorators are currently meeting with homeowners and making their own plans, Sproule is focusing on getting the word out to local not-for-profit groups to submit their request to participate by the end of July.

If your group would like to be part of the 2024 Christmas Home Tour, please send an email to: vankleekhillchristmashometour@gmail.com and provide the names and contact information of six volunteers willing to donate three hours of their time on tour day (November 2). Please explain in a few sentences how your group helps the community (if not self-evident). The organizing team will select six lucky organizations to receive a share of the event proceeds.

Watch for updates on the Christmas Home Tour website, where you can also sign up for the Home Tour newsletter and receive an earlybird invitation to purchase tickets.

Admission is $30 for this year’s event; tickets go on sale on September 10 but newsletter subscribers will be invited to purchase tickets a few weeks earlier.