In this blog post you’ll find a brief bit of history on the Midtown Holiday Home Tour event, an explanation of where money raised by the event goes, and a long list of thank yous highlighting those that make it possible. Please share and leave any feedback you’d like here, on our Facebook page, at our info@midtownindy.org inbox, by phone at (317) 600-3141, or in person at our office at 3965 N Meridian Street, Suite G. Thanks, and enjoy!
Now in its ninth year, our holiday home tour has seen steady growth in interest and stronger interest in investment. And that’s exactly what we like to see! As a fun event and more importantly as the biggest source of funding for Midtown Indy’s community building and community services initiatives, our annual Midtown Holiday Home Tour is a vital piece of our funding structure. On top of that, we hope it’s become a vital piece of your holiday season celebration! It truly is a great way to kick off midtown’s festive holiday season.
The tour started as an event to raise funds for the Easter Seals Crossroads Guild before it transitioned to a then Harmoni now Midtown Indy event. Once featuring a holiday market, the tour now routinely features food and 
beverage samples from a wide variety of local restaurants and vendors. This added flair paired with the advent and explosion of social media seems to bring in an increasingly higher number and wider variety of tour-goers every year. We’ve seen money raised by the event’s ticket sales, sponsorship purchases, in-kind sponsorships, and just plain kind donations go towards initiatives including: Alice Carter Park revitalization, Tarkington Park master planning and revitalization, Concord Building acquisition and renovation, Park West building acquisition and renovation, tax increment financing fund creation, Great Places 2020 Maple Crossing community development convening to plan and promote educational and livability and accessibility and economic enhancement initiatives, 
neighborhood organization promotion and support, countless community art infusions from paintings to murals to traffic signal box coatings, neighborhood history research and exhibit creation focusing on minority influencers, affordable entrepreneurial space implementation, neighborhood business to business and people to business connections and placemaking, transportation accessibility advocacy, transportation safety initiatives surrounding Red Line construction, local business advocacy for mixed use developments like The Coil and River House and business promotion like with our Midtown Loves Local program, park event planning like the Black Panther movie showing, local event information dispersion of all kinds through our bi-weekly newsletter and social media channels, Anchor Housing Coalition coordination to help create affordable housing and local living opportunities, Midtown Anchor Coalition and Midtown Economic Council convening (aligning community development efforts of major midtown institutions including Butler University, Newfields, Citizens Energy Group, BTNA, Crown Hill Cemetery, Indiana State Fairgrounds, The Children’s Museum, Near North Development Corporation, Mapleton Fall Creek Development Corporation, LISC, INHP, City of Indianapolis), and lots lots more. Home tour proceeds will continue to go towards such community focused initiatives into the future.
This year we visited the homes of the Lowrys, the Williams, the Eggers, Mr. Talucci, Mr. Stearley, and of Mrs. Smith and Mr. Webb. Let me tell you these homes covered the spread. I mean they were all over the place; colorful and full, sleek and minimal, warm and cozy, decorative and sophisticated. This year’s tour featured a home style for everyone.
After a few video sneak peaks from Mike Jansen and his videography work, we finally got to venture inside these homes and see the intricate and vibrant decorative work of Kirby Stearley, Coby Palmer, Jenni Egger Designs, Sullivan Hardware and Garden, McNamara Florist, Vintage 54, The Empty Vase, Bokay Florist, Stephen Garstang Creative Services, Stems Flower Truck, and the Art of Taylor Smith. We also heard the ho-ho-hos of Santa Claus David Denhart and the wonderful key strokes of pianist Gary Walters. Outside we saw a bit more decorative work as we sipped and sampled tastes from Garden Party (Savor Society), HoiTea ToiTea, Liter House and Big Lug, Artie’s OnTheGo, Next Door Eatery, Harvest Coffee & Tea, Illinois Street Food Emporium, Lick Ice Cream, Tiny House Treats, Sip & Share Winery, and Union Jack Pub.
The weather was great (for November anyway), the people were smiling, and the event was an overall great success. It was made possible by the efforts of our tremendous tour committee led by an outstanding pair of committee chairs, and the all star list of sponsors new and old, most notably our overall event sponsors Realtor Kyle Williams with Century 21 Scheetz and IndyGo’s Red Line. Also very impactful were our home sponsors: Bank of Indianapolis, Meridian Street Foundation, Worley Erhart-Graves (who brought a decked out team of docents), the Free-Hunter Wells Fargo Financial Group, Citizens Energy Group, and Ivy Tech Community College. We cannot thank our docents and many many tour-goers enough. Until next year!
ps: Winners of our terrific prizes from Petite G Jewelers, J McLaughlin, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Home Show, The Secret Ingredient, Deering Cleaners, and Meridian HeightsCleaners will be announced and contacted Wednesday morning. Stay tuned!
-Casey Seaton
Midtown Indy,
Programs & Events Coordinator
