Community members are invited to kick off the holiday season and perhaps pick up some decorating tips at the Middletown Holiday Home Tour, set for Saturday, Dec. 9, from noon to 8 p.m. This year's tour will feature 10 homes decorated for the season.

The tour will begin at The Event Place, 11 S. Union St., Middletown, which will serve as the tour's hospitality center. Participants can purchase a ticket for the tour between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Ticket holders will receive a wristband, which will allow them to enter the participating private homes, as well as a brochure with information about each tour site and a map of the tour route.

Also featured at The Event Place will be a display by a local artist and an opportunity for tourgoers to win gift baskets filled with items donated by Middletown-area merchants and residents.

"There are two new stops on the tour this year and the rest are old favorites," said Carole Shanaman, coordinator of the tour planning committee. "Most of the homes are in the borough, which makes the tour semi-walkable. Two of the homes are on the outskirts of Middletown."

Homes on the tour are of various styles. "One of the new homes (on the tour) was built in 1939, and it is a Sears and Roebuck kit home," Shanaman noted. "The other new (tour stop) is a three-story farmhouse in the borough built in the mid-1800s."

"One of the homes is a fan favorite," Shanaman added. "It is a grand home, and they go over the top with decorations, and every time they are on the tour (the decorations) are different."

Those who like to make a stop for lunch on Dec. 9 can purchase chicken and dumplings at Evangelical United Methodist Church, 157 E. Water St., Middletown. The food will be served from noon until sold out.

Proceeds from the tour will benefit the Middletown Area Blue Raider Foundation's JoAnn Shipkowski Scholarship, which will be presented to an IEP student graduating from the Middletown Area School District. Shipkowski, who passed way in 2019, was a longtime teacher in the Middletown Area School District, volunteered at the food pantry and was a committee member for the Middletown Holiday Home Tour.

For more information about the tour, visit http://www.MiddletownHolidayHomeTour.com. Individuals may also join the "Middletown Holiday Home Tour Group" on Facebook.