Last year, the Lake Highlands Women’s League hosted their 41st Holiday in the Highlands home tour and distributed proceeds of $200,000 to seniors for college scholarships and LH-area schools and nonprofits for projects to help children and families. This year, there will be no tour.
“Due to concerns regarding COVID-19 we do not believe that it is socially responsible to host an event that could possibly put our neighborhood at risk,” shared LHWL President Fran Beazley. “We are disappointed to cancel all home tour events, but we will continue to raise money and serve our community.”
The first time the league’s home tour fundraiser was threatened was in 2013 during “Icemaggedon,” when a freak ice storm brought the entire Metroplex to a halt on tour day Friday. By the following Wednesday, though, the group had created its first ever “Twilight Tour,” a tradition which remains to this day and added more working patrons to the attendance ranks.
Hosting fundraisers in 2020 will be difficult for LH schools and nonprofits, and many events have been canceled including the Exchange Club’s Oktoberfest, the Forest Meadow PTA’s Market in the Meadow and LHJH’s Hoops in the Highlands. The home tour presents unique challenges, since social distancing inside the four homes is practically impossible, and few homeowners are willing to welcome hordes of strangers into their home during a pandemic.
If you are a supporter of LHWL – or you want to be – you can still aid their community projects, college scholarships and work in schools. Click here to donate to “2020: The Tour That Wasn’t” in any amount.