Marianne Johnstone has never been on the Captain Garnet Brackin IODE House Tour even though she’s wanted to for the past 11 years.
Johnstone and Sandra Smith, two key organizers of the event, usually assign themselves as host at one of the featured homes on the IODE Christmas House Tour.
“I joke that I get one really good tour of one home,” she said following the Nov. 21 event at which local florists added a festive touch to 11 homes and one church.
The event sold out with some 600 people taking part in the tour, meaning that the Chatham-Kent Hospice and IODE projects will benefit.
“We’ll be donating $3,000 to the hospice because it’s such a need in the community,” she said.
The group estimated it will raise somewhere in the neighbourhood of $8,000.
“We provide secondary school bursaries, we donate books to the library, send students to volleyball camp and a number of other projects,” she said.
Johnstone said the tour wouldn’t be possible without the support of Sarah’s Market #2, The Purple Pansy, the Glasshouse and Laurie Clark Floral who supplied decorations as well as a number of sponsors throughout the community.
