Six Scottie dog markers will point the way this Sunday to houses decked out for the Christmas Tour of Homes, which will benefit Gainesville High School Theatre Friends.
The dogs are appropriate symbols for the tour, which will raise money to send 38 GHS drama students to Edinburgh, Scotland, to perform at the Fringe Festival in July 2008.
“They’re all just really lovely homes,” said Tricia McDuff, an organizer for the tour whose son Douglas, 16, is a sophomore and will play a townsperson in “Cinderella,” the next production for the drama department.
McDuff said the tour, in its first year, was organized by a committee of parents whose children plan to go to the festival.
The group hopes to raise $5,000 for each student, which will pay for airfare, hotel arrangements and theater time at the festival.
McDuff said attending the festival is a “huge honor,” and GHS is one of only 50 high schools that will take the trip in 2008.
GHS drama students first attended the festival in 2005. It is a performing arts event held annually in Edinburgh that features theater, musical, comedy and children’s performances.
Students who plan to go will do their part to help with the Christmas Tour of Homes.
“The drama students that will be performing at the Fringe Festival will be the tour guides in the homes and tell about the traditions (of the home owners),” McDuff said.
Also, parents of GHS students have decorated the two homes in the Gardens subdivision with antiques collected from local shops. They also will offer refreshments, topiaries and Christmas crafts for sale.
A map at each home will give tourgoers directions, and they can visit the homes in any order.
“It just would be a great way to kick off the Christmas season, to see how people decorate and their traditions,” McDuff said.
Like many moms, Stephanie Williams, whose home will be featured on the tour, decorates a Christmas tree with her family.
“That’s just pretty much a normal thing we do every year — we always decorate the tree with ornaments that my five children have collected or made over the last 17 years,” Williams said.
Williams said she decided to offer her home for the tour “mainly because my oldest, Graham, is a senior at Gainesville High School, and I just wanted to help the drama department.”
Williams’ daughter, Leita, will be performing for the first time on stage as a townsperson in “Cinderella,” which will open Dec. 11 at The Ware House at GHS.
The dogs are appropriate symbols for the tour, which will raise money to send 38 GHS drama students to Edinburgh, Scotland, to perform at the Fringe Festival in July 2008.
“They’re all just really lovely homes,” said Tricia McDuff, an organizer for the tour whose son Douglas, 16, is a sophomore and will play a townsperson in “Cinderella,” the next production for the drama department.
McDuff said the tour, in its first year, was organized by a committee of parents whose children plan to go to the festival.
The group hopes to raise $5,000 for each student, which will pay for airfare, hotel arrangements and theater time at the festival.
McDuff said attending the festival is a “huge honor,” and GHS is one of only 50 high schools that will take the trip in 2008.
GHS drama students first attended the festival in 2005. It is a performing arts event held annually in Edinburgh that features theater, musical, comedy and children’s performances.
Students who plan to go will do their part to help with the Christmas Tour of Homes.
“The drama students that will be performing at the Fringe Festival will be the tour guides in the homes and tell about the traditions (of the home owners),” McDuff said.
Also, parents of GHS students have decorated the two homes in the Gardens subdivision with antiques collected from local shops. They also will offer refreshments, topiaries and Christmas crafts for sale.
A map at each home will give tourgoers directions, and they can visit the homes in any order.
“It just would be a great way to kick off the Christmas season, to see how people decorate and their traditions,” McDuff said.
Like many moms, Stephanie Williams, whose home will be featured on the tour, decorates a Christmas tree with her family.
“That’s just pretty much a normal thing we do every year — we always decorate the tree with ornaments that my five children have collected or made over the last 17 years,” Williams said.
Williams said she decided to offer her home for the tour “mainly because my oldest, Graham, is a senior at Gainesville High School, and I just wanted to help the drama department.”
Williams’ daughter, Leita, will be performing for the first time on stage as a townsperson in “Cinderella,” which will open Dec. 11 at The Ware House at GHS.