Photography by Jenifer Baker Studio.
This year’s Lakewood Home Festival will be a “street-view” tour with a twist.
“While the Home Tour Festival weekend will again look different this year, our focus and goal of raising critical funds for our local schools remains steadfast,” says Shannon McKie, president of the Lakewood Early Childhood PTA, which presents the Home Tour Nov. 13.
This year’s 45th annual home tour is bowing to the realities of the pandemic in making tour-home interiors off-limits. But in a new initiative to engage visitors, each of the six selected neighborhood tour homes will have family-friendly activities on the front lawn, Saturday, Nov. 13 and will include food trucks, games, crafts and activities for kids and adults.
“We are excited to feature activations outside each of the homes,” McKie says. “We know it will be a fun and safe experience that will continue to rally our community in helping our East Dallas schools.”
Homes featured on this year’s tour include:
• 6827 Lakeshore Drive, sponsored by the JacksonSells Team and Lawyers Title.
• 6818 Lakeshore Drive, sponsored by the Nancy Johnson Group/Compass.
• 7575 Benedict Drive, sponsored by the Heather Guild Group and Veritex Community Bank.
• 6944 Lakewood Boulevard, sponsored by David Bush Realtors, Cornerstone Home Lending and Republic Title.
•6921 Westlake Avenue, sponsored by Farris McMahon Group, Lawyers Title and Theriot Mortgage Group.
• 6747 Alexander Drive, sponsored by Kate Walters Real Estate, the Kruse Dickstein Team of IberiaBank, and Republic Title.
More than 400 neighborhood families are involved with the Lakewood Early Childhood PTA, which has raised more than $3 million since the home tour’s inception to benefit neighborhood schools Lakewood Elementary, J.L. Long Middle School, Woodrow Wilson High School as well as other schools in the feeder pattern.
Funds raised from last year’s home tour and other LECPTA fundraising efforts were distributed to Lakewood Elementary, $125,000; Long, $65,000; Woodrow, $45,000; Mount Auburn Elementary, $5,000; Lipscomb Elementary, $5,000; and Geneva Heights Elementary, $5,000.
“Our feeder-pattern schools each have unique needs, and this upcoming spring we are proud to introduce a new grant application that will enhance our giving to better equip those schools in addressing areas of need,” McKie says.
Lakewood Elementary principal Brittany Thompson agrees that LECPTA’s contributions make a huge difference in educating neighborhood children.
“The support our school has received from fundraising efforts of the LECPTA has empowered our ability to address specific needs that we likely would not have been able to otherwise,” Thompson says.
“And even last year amidst a pandemic, the LECPTA raised a total of $250,000 and was able to also distribute a significant portion of those funds to other schools within our feeder pattern. This alone demonstrates their commitment to serving all of our East Dallas schools — all of our neighborhood children.”
Join in on the fun by purchasing Home Tour Guidebooks, Family Activation Packs and Candlelight Tour wristbands.
New Family Activation Packs are $50 and include wristbands for two adults and two kids and provide unlimited access to activations outside tour homes from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 13.
A candlelight tour is scheduled later that night from 6-9 p.m.; a limited number of candlelight tour tickets are available for $30.
The annual auction party, which will be held outdoors at Marie Gabrielle Restaurant & Gardens in the Hardwood District near Downtown Dallas, is sold out.
The weekend is funded in part by Home Festival presenting sponsor Comerica Bank, Auction Party presenting sponsor Dave Perry-Miller Real Estate, and media sponsor Advocate Media.
Gold sponsors include Skylar Champion Real Estate Group, the Nancy Johnson Group/Compass, PlainsCapital Bank, Harwood Group, Lawyers Title, McKie Family Foundation and Melissa M. Burns, Attorney.
For information and tickets, visit lakewoodhomefestival.org.
