Get inspired by festive Christmas home tour

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This article was published 24/11/2018 (2815 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Six Selkirk-area homes are opening their doors to help visitors get in the Christmas spirit.

The fourth annual Homes for the Holidays House and Heritage Tour is scheduled for Nov. 29-Dec. 1. Six homes will be decorated for the holidays and the tour also includes two historic sites, the St. Andrews Rectory and Knox Presbyterian Church in Selkirk. Proceeds from the tour go to the Nova House Women’s Shelter and the Selkirk and District Community Foundation’s Homes for All Fund.

The tour is similar to the Winnipeg Art Gallery’s Home Tour, except instead of architectural details, visitors can get Christmas decorative ideas from the homes, some of which are in urban settings, others in rural milieus.

For instance, the Sol family’s house, one of three stops in the St. Clements area, becomes the Night Before Christmas Home — named after the famous poem A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore — and includes a sugar plum express, according to the home tour’s website.

The St. Andrews Rectory (374 River Rd., St. Andrews) was built out of limestone in 1854 and returns to the Homes for the Holidays tour after helping inaugurate it in 2015.

The National Historic Site offers visitors a glimpse of one of Manitoba’s oldest structures. One of the tour’s three stops in Selkirk is the Knox Presbyterian Church (341 Eveline St.), which was built in 1880 and expanded in 1904, allowing visitors to check out its woodwork and stained-glass windows made by artist Leo Mol.

The Nov. 29 pre-tour and the Nov. 30 starlight tour run from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. The Dec. 1 daylight tour goes from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Advance tickets, good for all three days, are $50 and include a wine, cheese and dessert reception.

Tour tickets for Friday and Saturday only are $40. Tickets are available at Sunova Credit Unions in Selkirk, Oakbank, Stonewall and two Winnipeg locations, 803 Leila Ave., and 1033 St. Mary’s Rd., as well as the Gaynor Family Regional Library and Packers Women’s Fashion in Selkirk and Pineridge Hollow in Birds Hill.

Tickets include a guidebook, map, addresses, directions and a charitable receipt.

A park-and-ride holiday tour bus based in Selkirk will do the route in three to four hours for $20 and can be booked by calling 204-482-4636.

Any leftover tickets will be available at the door for $60.

alan.small@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @AlanDSmall