Each year, area homes volunteer to be decorated and set on display for some 4,500 visitors. This year, the tour is showing two homes from Burlington and one from Carlisle. Organizers start planning for the tour in January, with most of the work being done through the summer months for the fall event. Although it takes months to plan, set-up for the big day happens over just a few days. The Thursday before, decorators, retailers and designers set up their displays. Thursday evening, the homeowners move out, and the tours start Friday. By Sunday evening, it’s all over and the owners can return home.

The JLHB, first formed in 1931, is comprised of a group of people, mainly women, who took an interest in helping their community.

“We’re part of an international organization that has 164,000 members in four countries; United States, UK, Mexico and Canada,” said Lourdes Jimenez, the PR representative for JLHB. In 1901, Mary Harriman, a 19 year-old New York City debutante concerned with the social problems of the day, formed the Junior League for the Promotion of Settlement Movements. She put together a group of 80 young women that worked to improve children’s health care, nutrition and literacy among immigrants living on the lower side of east Manhattan. Eleanor Roosevelt, who was friends with Harriman, was so inspired she joined the League in 1903.

“The women went to help in the soup kitchens, and from there it grew and grew,” Jimenez explained.

The JLHB has 150 members, while the Toronto chapter has about 300 members. There are also Junior Leagues in Halifax, Edmonton and Calgary. All the groups operate under the Canadian Federation of Junior Leagues.

The organization is made up of volunteers, with many life-long members. Phyllis Dutchak, who recently celebrated her 90th birthday, has been with the organization the longest. Originally from Winnipeg, she joined a league there and transferred to the Hamilton-Burlington league when she moved to the area.

“She still comes out to functions, it’s awesome,” said JLHB house tour co-chair, Tamara Welbourn. “She knows everybody and still does her volunteering,” added Jimenez.

Welbourn, who co-chairs with Dianne Brown, works with a committee that puts together various events, including the house tours.

“We’ve been doing this for 26 years, so we’re getting pretty good at it,” she said. “We all work really well together and the roles are so well defined that we just click along.

“We work with the community members and the retailers, decorators and designers in the community,” she explained. “If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t have a tour. They generously give up their time, product, creativity to put Christmas into these homes that the homeowners generously donate to us.”

Over the past 26 years, the JLHB has created relationships with retailers and designers who continue to show their work during the tours, but they are also open to new creativity.

Some of the longstanding participants include Maranatha Log House and Flowers, Holland Park, Willow Tree, Anderson Carpets, A Passion for Living, Pearl St. Café, Wild Birds Unlimited and Walkers Chocolate. Tea at the Whitehouse serves teas and scones during the tour, and some new supporters including Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast.

The Holiday Inn in Burlington has been involved for many years and donates rooms for the homeowners to use while their house is being decorated and showcased.

The holiday event boosts the local economy, as visitors who take the tour often visit retailers, looking for items showcased in the homes.

Money raised during the tour supports various JLHB goals and projects. They just finished a five-year mandate with VON, and were instrumental in building and creating a respite care.

In addition to fundraising in support of community initiatives, the JLHB trains volunteers to be civic leaders.

“The training opportunities for women is great in this organization,” said Welbourn.

The local Holiday House Tour, the JLHB’s biggest fundraiser, has grossed between $100,000 and $125,000 with each tour over the past three to five years through ticket sales, donations and sponsorships.

The JLHB committee tours potential holiday tour houses, to ensure that the house will accommodate the volume of traffic. When they arrived at the Cullum Drive home in Carlisle, they found the basement was completely hockey-themed, complete with a bathroom that looks like a locker room, and a lot of the items came from Marcel Dion’s store in Niagara Falls. The JLHB approached the hockey hall of famer, and Dion agreed to support the tour. He will be at the house meeting and greeting with people.

“We thought it would be a great way to bring in more males,” said Welbourn. “What we’ve seen over the years is that more and more guys are coming out to the tour. They’re getting more interested in decorating and want to see how houses are built.”

Sunni Genesco and Matt Hayes have signed on as honorary cochairs of this year’s event.

The biggest challenge for the JLHB is finding the houses, making sure there are no parking issues, and ensuring that the flow of traffic is good inside and on the street.

“It is an amazing and generous thing, letting 4,500 people go through your home and having all these designers, decorators and vendors bringing in all these products. It is quite the overhaul,” said Welbourn. “But the houses are beautiful.”

The challenge for the designers is to come in and make the house look holiday-oriented. At the Carlisle home, two bedrooms are decorated in pink and brown and blue and brown – not exactly Christmas colours. But the designers come up with ideas to make it holiday related, such as a New Years holiday room.

The rewards have been numerous for the participants, said Welbourn.

“We are helping people,” said Jiminez “Our mission is to meet the unmet critical needs in the community.

The Holiday Tour is a great way to start enjoying the holiday season and raise money for a good cause. “But we will make you take your shoes off!” Jimenez said with a laugh.

Tickets cost $20 advance, $25 at the door. The Holiday House Tour of Distinctive Homes takes place Friday, November 7 from 10 a. m. until 9 p. m., Saturday, November 8 and Sunday, November 9 from 10 a. m. until 4 p. m.

The homes are located at 35 Cullum Drive, Carlisle and in Burlington at 555 Woodland Avenue and 687 North Shore Boulevard.

For more information and a list of retailers where tickets can be purchased, visit http://www.junior-league.ca .