LeRoy Heritage Museum, Inc. - Events

LEROY HOLLY HOME TOUR

Saturday, December 8, 2007

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets will be sold at the LeRoy Community Building, Mill Street, LeRoy on the day of the event. Tickets are $7 each. Ages 12 and under are free and must be accompanied by an adult. If you have any questions please email LeRoy Heritage Museum, Inc. for more information.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Below is the final entertainment schedule for the LeRoy Holly Home Tour.

12 p.m. - Holly Home Tour tickets will be sold starting at noon.

12:30 p.m. - Alba Brass, Alba Christian Church Chancel Choir will perform until 1:30 p.m.

1:45 p.m. - 2:20 p.m. - Carole Kneller performs Christmas music with Cow Bells.

2:40 p.m. - 3:20 p.m. - Alfonse Ciaccio guitar music.

3:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. - Alice Howell & Chasidy Wilcox sing Christmas carols.

4 p.m. - Holly Home Tour ends. Door prize drawing.

During the day, special holiday refreshments will be available to those who purchase a ticket. Also be sure to check out the crafters who will be selling holiday gifts, the museum display and gift items that will be for sale, and the holiday decorations.

In the evening, visit Bethlehem Boulevard, an interactive walking tour at the LeRoy Independent Baptist Church!

Click Here to Visit the Bethlehem Boulevard Page at www.leroybaptist.org!

FEATURED HOMES

Mark & Laura Crossan
Originally the Lewis Hotel and Lewis Brothers General Merchandise Store.

Ron & Angie Kirby
Originally the home of merchants Earnest & Nellie Holcombe.

Photo not available.

Mark & Laura Crossan
Built by Dr. Charles Haines in 1896.

BUSINESS SPONSORS

If you would like to sponsor the 2007 tour, please send a check or postal money order to LeRoy Heritage Museum, Inc., RR 1 Box 5152, Canton, PA 17724-8735. For a donation of $10 or more, you will receive a 1"x2.5" space in the tour guide brochure in which you may list your business name, owner name, and contact information. If you have any questions please email LeRoy Heritage Museum, Inc. for more information.

2007 PRESS RELEASES

LeRoy Heritage Museum, Inc. will welcome visitors at the second annual LeRoy Holly Home Tour to be held December 8, 2007, from 12 noon to 4 p.m.

The tour will feature five historic homes in the community of LeRoy, beautifully decorated for the Christmas season. A variety of activities will also take place at the LeRoy Community Building (school house) during the event.

Tickets will be sold the day of the event at the LeRoy Community Building located on Mill Street in LeRoy (Bradford County). Tickets are $7 each. Ages 12 and under are free and must be accompanied by an adult. The price of the ticket includes the self-guided tour of the first floor of each home, holiday refreshments, the opportunity to enter for the chance to win door prizes, musical entertainment and more.

The tour will include two houses that were featured last year plus three new homes. Each year homeowners use their imaginations and create new and different ways to adorn their homes for the season. As a result, visitors are guaranteed a different experience with each event. Tour participants will also receive a brochure which will contain history and a photo of each of the homes on the tour. It will also contain directions and parking instructions specific to each location. A schedule of events will also be found in each brochure.

The first home on the tour is owned by Mike and Lisa Miosi and is the fourth house west of the LeRoy General Store in the center of the community along Route 414. It was built about 1853 by Hugh M. Holcombe, a local merchant in the LeRoy community, whose grandfather first settled what is now LeRoy in 1794.

Participants will then continue to follow the sidewalk to the third house beyond Miosi’s where the next stop on the tour is located. Owners Ron and Angie Kirby will welcome you to their 100+ year old home which was built by Ernest Holcombe, another local merchant and grandson of the Hugh M. Holcombe mentioned above. Ernest & Nellie Holcombe operated for many years what is now the LeRoy General Store.

The third house is located on the opposite side of Rt. 414 from the others and is the home of Mark & Laura Crossan. This house has undergone restoration on its exterior in recent years and work continues inside the house at this time. Built in 1896 to hold the Lewis House (one of LeRoy’s hotels), the Lewis Brothers General Merchandise store, and the offices of the Lewis Brothers Lumber Company, the building is steeped in history. Upon entering the front door, visitors will admire the beautiful Victorian stairway, cherry woodwork and wainscoting. On the first floor, Laura’s This-n-That store will be open offering a variety of gifts for the Christmas season. Purchases made here during the tour will benefit LeRoy Heritage Museum, Inc. as 20% of the days proceeds will be contributed to the museum to help with its building restoration project. The store, however, is not the only feature of this home. Participants will have the opportunity to follow the grand staircase to the second floor to view the large ballroom, once a popular fixture in the community. The ballroom was once the site where the LeRoy Silver Cornet Band would play and the community would be entertained with dancing and other activities. It is also said to have been a popular destination for single men from Laquin on the weekends. A 12-foot Christmas tree will be found in this room.

The fourth house on this years tour is located on the same side of the road, just east of the creek in the center of the town. Visitors will find this house currently being renovated. Once damaged by fire, this home has received new life through the efforts of owners Mark & Laura Crossan. This beautiful home is currently for sale. It was built in 1896 by Dr. Charles Haines after the original house on this property burned.

The final stop on this years tour will be the home of Pastor Ron and Ruthie Bly, which is just east of the intersection of Mill Street and Southside Road. The home was built in 1904 by Reuben Palmer and gained popularity as the home Paul Selleck, who was at the time a Director of the Sheffield Producers Cooperative Association and later President of the Eastern Milk Producers Cooperative Association. The farm is perhaps best known as the former home of Ivan and Myra Whipple. Today it serves as the LeRoy Independent Baptist Church parsonage. Be sure to visit the Bly family at this beautiful farmhouse.

Once participants have completed the tour, they are invited to return to the Community Building where refreshments will be served free of charge to ticket holders. Craft vendors will be available. Musical entertainment will begin at 12:30 p.m. with the Alba Brass and Choir. At 1:45 p.m. Carol Kneller will continue the holiday music by playing cow bells. Alfonse Ciaccio will follow at 2:40 p.m. with guitar music and the day will conclude with singing by Alice Howell and Chasidy Wilcox beginning at 3:30 p.m.

A museum gift shop table will feature several homemade holiday goodies assembled in gift bags, tins, mugs and more that will include peanut brittle, fudge, and cookies to name a few. These may be the perfect gift for the holiday season. This will also be a great time to pick up a gift membership for a friend or family member. Be sure to check out the museum display table to see photos of the recent renovation work taking place at the museum building and learn of the upcoming projects that need to be completed in order to open the museum in the summer of 2008.

The much anticipated LeRoy Holly Home Tour helps fulfill the museum goal of preservation by featuring historic homes that have been or are currently being restored by their owners. It also assists in fulfilling the goal of education by sharing historical facts about each home with visitors. Last years participants were also pleased with the community pride fostered by the event.

This special day is also a fundraiser for the LeRoy Heritage Museum, Inc. The museum is currently restoring the former Open Hand Grange in LeRoy which will become a museum and research library covering LeRoy Township and Barclay Mountain history. The facility is on schedule to be completed by the summer of 2008 and events such as the Holly Home Tour are helping to raise the funding that is needed to finish the building.

The Holly Home Tour is just a part of this special holiday weekend in LeRoy. After the tour, visitors are encouraged to stop at the historic LeRoy General Store, also decorated for the holiday, to order their dinner. A famous Heritage Cheese Steak may be perfect on a winter day. Later in the evening the LeRoy Independent Baptist Church will feature its popular event entitled, “Bethlehem Boulevard” between 7 and 9 p.m. This is a free interactive walking tour of the village of Bethlehem that is built inside the church facility and will be expanded this year with new additions to the town.

To view photos of the houses being featured on the Holly Home Tour, or photos of last years event, visit the LeRoy Heritage Museum website at www.leroyheritage.org, and click on “Holly Home Tour” in the Events section. If you have questions, call 570-364-5770 or email leroymuseum@frontiernet.net.

LeRoy Heritage Museum, Inc. announces that the second annual LeRoy Holly Home Tour will be held December 8, 2007, from 12 noon to 4 p.m.

Tickets will be sold the day of the event. The price of the ticket includes the self-guided tour of the first floor of each home, the opportunity to enter for the chance to win door prizes, and holiday refreshments. In addition, a variety of live musical entertainment such as the Alba Brass will be available throughout the afternoon, as well as craft vendors, the museum gift shop, and a display showing the current renovation work taking place at the museum.

The tour will include two houses that were featured last year plus three new homes. This years participants are Mike & Lisa Miosi, Ron & Angie Kirby, Mark & Laura Crossan and Ron & Ruthie Bly. Each year homeowners use their imaginations and create new and different ways to adorn their homes for the season. As a result, visitors are guaranteed a different experience each year.

The houses that will be featured on the tour are steeped in history. The oldest was built over 150 years ago. Another of the homes was built by one of LeRoy’s early doctors, and still another was considered a model of what the ideal farm should look like. One of LeRoy’s old hotels, currently undergoing restoration, will also be featured, and visitors will have the opportunity to see the large Victorian ballroom which was a significant source of entertainment in the community 100 years ago.

Laura’s This-n-That, located in the center of LeRoy (and featured on the tour), will be contributing 20% of their profit from that day to the museum. This will be a great opportunity to do some Christmas shopping, while benefiting LeRoy Heritage Museum at the same time!

LeRoy Heritage Museum, Inc. is offering businesses the opportunity to sponsor this event. A business name and contact information may be placed in an ad in the Holly Home Tour guide brochure that will be distributed to visitors during the tour. For details about this opportunity, email leroymuseum@frontiernet.net or visit the museum website to download a form.

The Holly Home Tour is just a part of this special holiday weekend in LeRoy. After the tour, visitors will be encouraged to stop at the historic LeRoy General Store to order their dinner. A famous Heritage Cheese Steak may be perfect on a winter day. Later in the evening the LeRoy Independent Baptist Church will feature its popular event entitled, “Bethlehem Boulevard.” This is an interactive walking tour of the village of Bethlehem that is built inside the church facility and will be expanded this year with new additions to the town.

To view photos of the houses being featured on the Holly Home Tour, or to see an up-to-date schedule of events, visit the LeRoy Heritage Museum website at www.leroyheritage.org, and click on “Holly Home Tour” in the Events section. If you have questions, email leroymuseum@frontiernet.net.