How to go
The Historic Home and Garden Tour is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, June 26 and 27
For tickets, or for more information, call (800) 791-6010. Tickets are free for children 12 and younger. Adult tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the door.
Visit www.ccpahome andgardentour.com for information
An annual home and garden tour is now in its 18th year, and Gerald and Nancy Althauser have been there for 16 of them.
On June 26 and 27, the Champaign County Preservation Alliance will host its annual Historic Home and Garden Tour, which will feature numerous homes in the Urbana area.
For Gerald Althauser, the annual tour is a chance to meet with local residents and sell beeswax candles and other goods produced on their 20-acre farm in Kenton. Gerald and his wife will be among several other vendors who will set up free demonstrations and sell their wares at this year’s event.
He said he returns every year because throughout his travels in Ohio, he hasn’t seen any tour that’s quite like this one.
“It seems to us like a unique thing,” Althauser said. “Obviously, Champaign County has an awful lot of historic homes that are being kept up, and that’s not the norm.”
Althauser’s career as a beekeeper actually began when his sons decided to try raising bees for their 4-H projects more than 20 years ago. But as they grew older, he continued the practice and has been selling candles and fresh honey ever since.
“It’s kind of a neat arrangement for everyone,” he said. “We enjoy doing it and it’s something we look forward to every year.”
Sandy Gonzalez, who helped organize this year’s tour, said there will be nine craft vendors in all, as well as a raffle. The Champaign County Arts Council will also host a “Tea in the Garden,” and the Urbana United Methodist Church will serve a lunch from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Sheryl Virts, Historian for the CCPA, said in recent years, the tours have focused on Mechanicsburg, St. Paris and Westville. This year, the tour is back in Urbana, and will include tours of the Johnny Appleseed Museum at Urbana University, the United Methodist Church on Main Street downtown and a the Champaign County Fairgrounds, among others. To be on the tour, sites must be at least 50 years old.
This year, Virts said, visitors will also be able to view a historic home on Scioto Street while it is still undergoing renovations.
The goal of the tours, she said, is to help fund restoration projects throughout Champaign County, and encourage residents to but older homes and restore them, rather than tearing them down.
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0355 or msanctis@coxohio.com.
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