Heights Community Congress hosts 35th annual home and garden tour

This formerly foreclosed home was renovated top to bottom and is now one of the gems that will be featured on the home and garden tour. Photo by Susan Roberts

On Sept. 23, some of the unique homes and gardens in Cleveland Heights will be open to the public for Heights Community Congress’s (HCC) 35th annual Heights Heritage Home & Garden Tour.

According to Kasey Greer, HCC’s executive director, the tour “generates great publicity for Cleveland Heights and brings so many people here to look at the great hidden secrets of our community.” Greer added that the tour is a “great way for people to meet each other and engage with each other.”

In past years, tour participants have come from as far as Maine and Arizona. Nearly 1,500 tickets are sold every year. Tourists from outside the city “can't help but get a sense of what a great community Cleveland Heights is while taking the tour,” said Greer.

The self-guided tour will be from noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 23. Tickets for the tour are $20 in advance and $25 the day of the event. Tour tickets are available at www.heightscongress.org and at Stone Oven Bakery, Zagara’s Marketplace, Appletree Books, Bremec on the Heights, Cleveland Heights City Hall, Phoenix Coffee on Coventry Road, Dewey’s Coffee in Shaker Square, Fireside Bookshop in Chagrin Falls, North Park Grill at Fairmount Circle and Heinen’s in University Heights.

A preview party for the event will be held on Saturday, Sept. 22, at Judson Manor in University Circle. After a toast at Judson, attendees will board Lolly the Trolley for a preview of homes featured on the tour. A party will follow at Judson. Tickets for the preview party start at $125 and may be ordered at www.heightscongress.org or by calling 216-321-6775. During the preview event, partygoers will receive a ticket and tour book with map for Sunday’s tour.

This year, six homes and four gardens will be featured. Destinations on the 2012 tour include a formerly foreclosed house, a “Big Fun” house, and a xeriscape garden.

Every year, a committee of about 30 people finds homes and gardens to feature on the tour. The committee tries to avoid selecting a particular home more than once every ten years. The goal of the selection process is to show the diversity of homes in Cleveland Heights.

Simone Quartell

Simone Quartell a student at Cleveland State University and a 2009 gradute of Cleveland Heights High School.

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Volume 5, Issue 9, Posted 10:43 PM, 09.10.2012