Weather Fails to
Dampen Home and Garden Tour
Fairlington Historical Society Declares Event Total Success
Nearly 400 Fairlington residents defied threatening skies
and frightening weather forecasts on Saturday, May 10, to Ooh and Ah over 17 of
their neighbors’ homes, gardens and patios.
The occasion was the 2003 Home and Garden Tour sponsored by the
Fairlington Historical Society as part of the community’s 60th Anniversary
celebration and Arlington County’s "Neighborhood Day."
Tom Corbin and Chuck Edwards coordinated a dedicated
volunteer committee, made up of residents from several villages which rose to
the challenge and succeeded at their daunting pre-planning and organizational
tasks. Aided by ten corporate and
individual sponsors who underwrote the cost of the tour, committee members sold
two hundred pre-tour ticket sales via the Internet. According to Ticket Chair Kym Hill, close to
another 200 tickets were sold within 30 minutes after they went on sale at the
South Fairlington Community Center, where space for the ticket sales was made
available by Arlington County. In spite of the unsettled weather, the tour sold
out very quickly, much to the disappointment of some who were unable to
purchase tickets at the last minute.
A reception hosted by the Society to conclude the event was
held at North Fairlington Community Center, courtesy of Fairlington
Villages. Tour participants, residents
who opened their houses, volunteers, and special guests celebrated the tour’s
success and were thanked by the Society.
One reception guest noted in the Reception Register that this tour was
"as good as (the) Old town tour."
Encouraged by this success, the Fairlington Historical
Society is considering making a Fairlington home and garden tour a biennial
event.
