2005 Holiday House Tour:
A successful showcase but down financially from last year
by KRISTIN PAZULSKI
The 2005 Holiday House Tour, held Saturday, Dec. 10, was deemed a success
by attendees and planners, despite not living up to financial expectations
in its profit of only about $7,500 compared to last year’s $20,000.
“I’d hate to say that a $7,500 fundraiser wasn’t a
success,” said Maxine M. Dornemann, president of the Chestnut Hill
Community Association. “It just didn’t meet our (financial)
goals.” The CHCA finances and plans the event.
In 2003 the Holiday Tour’s profit was actually similar to 2005’s
– also around $7,000. However it actually pulled in a slightly lower
total income ($17,000 compared to this year’s $19,000) and the profits
were similar because less was spent (about $10,000 was spent in 2003 and
this year $11,500 was spent). 2004 saw the highest expenditures of the
three years at $13,000.
Of the $11,500 spent on the event, $5,000 goes towards the decoration
of each home – $1,000 for each of the five locations – and
the rest was used for promotions, postage, parking in the Morris Arboretum
lot and advertising.
CHCA board secretary Jane M. Piotrowski worked on the project as a volunteer
and said that one contributing factor to last year’s high profit
could have been that the street where the homes were was closed for the
event.
She also attributed this year’s decrease in attendance to the weather.
“It was against us,” she said, though she thought there was
a nice turnout considering the snow and the freezing temperatures.
Dornemann also said that they got a late start in promoting the yearly
event, which may have accounted for the decrease in numbers.
The tour’s goal of showcasing the historic qualities of Chestnut
Hill and highlighting local homes, said Dornemann, was well met.
Each year the Holiday House Tour is hosted at different locations and
with a different decorator-theme. This past year, individual decorators
joined with garden clubs to decorate rooms in the five locations.
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