Hark! Hear the Zionsville Show Choirs Sing!
November 2019
It is the most wonderful time of the year, again! Be sure to get your tickets to the annual Carol of Homes Holiday Home Tour, featuring six beautifully decorated homes in Zionsville as well as Zionsville Show Choir students who will perform their favorite holiday songs as folks tour the homes. While the Holiday Home Tour has become part of the holiday magic that permeates the community, it is also a very important fundraiser for the Zionsville Show Choirs. In fact, all proceeds from the Holiday Home Tour benefit the show choirs as they prepare for the upcoming competition season.
Ann Soards, Holiday Home Tour co-chair, is one of five dedicated individuals that comprise the Holiday Home Tour committee. Soards shared why the home tour is an important part of the show choir experience as well as a meaningful addition to the community’s holiday festivities.
“It is a [Zionsville] tradition that the show choir kids are getting excited about and are able to contribute to,” Soards said. “One of the things that I love about the Holiday Home Tour is, it’s really kind of magical. My co-chair, Barb [Thorp], and I will go to all the [host] homes—multiple times—that day, and everybody is happy, enjoying themselves and being kind to each other. It is a piece of Zionsville’s holiday puzzle.”
Soards expressed that the Zionsville Show Choir students take a lot of ownership in this event and enjoy singing in various businesses and along Main Street, in addition to the six homes that are part of the tour.
“The show choir kids interact with the homeowners and attendees that come through the tour,” Soards said. “We explain to the kids ahead of time that this event is a really big fundraiser for the show choirs and that they have skin in the game by being involved. These kids truly recognize that the homeowners and some of the local business owners are being so generous. They open up their homes and sponsor this event—even those who don’t have kids in the show choir programs. That really resonates with them, that all these people want to help us. We realize how generous our community is through this event as we hope that it, in turn, plants the seed for our kids to be generous as well.”
Barb Thorp, Holiday Home Tour co-chair, added, “The Holiday Home Tour is such a great way to kick off the holiday season, and it creates such a sense of belonging [for the kids] as well as a sense of a community that is bigger than their high school community.”
Both co-chairs thanked the sponsoring businesses and the home tour hosts for their generosity and support.
“Only one of this year’s hosts has a kid in show choir,” Thorp said. “The rest of them don’t really have a tie to the show choirs, but they love the [Zionsville] community so much and they love the [Holiday Home Tour] tradition. Additionally, the community, the directors, the parent volunteers and the board have been supportive, and we have an amazing Holiday Home Tour team that have been working on this since February. It is a team effort, and they just keep giving of themselves so that our kids can have these great and growing experiences. And the kids grow so much through show choir.”
The Holiday Home Tour is Saturday, December 7, 2019, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Advance tickets for the Holiday Home Tour are available starting November 11 at Fivethirty Home, Century 21 Sheetz and Akards True Value or from any show choir student beginning the week of November 7. Tickets are $20 per person.
Tickets will also be available the day of the tour from Fivethirty Home, Century 21 Sheetz and Akards True Value or at any of the 2019 homes. For questions or additional information, visit holidayhometour.weebly.com.
Writer:
Janelle Morrison
Photography:
Submitted