Daily Inspiration: Meet Karolyn Smith for Tweeds Holiday Home Tour

Today we’d like to introduce you to Karolyn Smith for Tweeds Holiday Home Tour.

Hi Karolyn Smith, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
The Holiday Home Tour began as a project of the nonprofit corporation, Dickson Performing Arts Center, Inc. (DPAC). The primary goal of DPAC was to help provide a permanent performing arts facility for Woodland Park School District RE-2. This dream was fulfilled in September of 2005 with the opening of Dickson Auditorium named in memory of Marta Dickson for her 25 years of dedication as the Gateway Elementary music teacher, and in honor of her husband Morton Dickson, music teacher at Woodland Park High School for 34 years. After its first successful season, the Holiday Home Tour grew to such proportions that it quickly became the traditional kickoff event for the area’s holiday season. Once Dickson Auditorium was established, DPAC was officially dissolved, and all remaining assets were donated to various community performing arts groups. However, the members of the DPAC board of directors did not want to see the Holiday Home Tour end. Therefore, the event was generously gifted to the Pikes Peak Regional Medical Center Foundation to help fund campus projects including landscaping and signage.

In 2012 Tweeds Fine Furnishings became the Presenting Sponsor and the stated mission of the Tour became “to raise funds for the greater Teller County nonprofit organizations that foster art, culture, human services, environmental stewardship and sports and recreation. Revenues are generated by producing an impressive, high-quality Tour event that positively showcases the greater Teller County area and its talents, creativity and community commitment.”

We are now Tweeds Holiday Home Tour and are happy that we’ve found a way to keep the tradition going.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The planners of any December event scheduled in Colorado at 8500 feet are always worried about the weather. However, during our first 25 years, we never canceled a Tour. Some years were quite a challenge, but we did it.

And then there was the “Covid Year-2020.” In order to comply with the local restrictions, the talented people in our community worked together to produce an online virtual tour. We were also able to have a modified in-person tour by dividing the tour into four sessions and limiting the number of tickets available for each session.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
We have an all-volunteer Steering Committee of about eighteen people who plan and manage the tour each year. There is no paid staff. Although most of the committee members are retired, some have full-time jobs. Residents of our area come from from all walks of life. Most have moved here from other parts of the country. We all live in the Greater Ute Pass area, and are committed to raising funds for the nonprofit organizations that serve Teller County.

We are very proud of the fact that we have raised over $273,000 since our first tour in 1999. We work to involve people of all ages and enjoy partnering with other organizations such as Quilters Above the Clouds.

What’s next?
Last year we celebrated our 25th Anniversary. Rainbow Valley Ranch, LLC provided a delightful lunch for every guest at no cost. It will be hard to top that! However, many people have ask our designers, “How to you do that?” In response to this inquiry, we are presenting Trim A Tree & More…Tips from our Home Tour Designers. This will be on November 2 from 6:30-8:30 at Tweeds Fine Furnishings. Seating is very limited. Details are being finalized.

Pricing:

• Adult Tickets $20
• Student Tickets (K-12) $5
• Pre-School & Younger FREE
• Business Sponsors $250-$1000
• Individual Sponsors $100-$250

Contact Info:

• Website: wphht.org
• Facebook: Tweed’s Holiday Home Tour-Woodland Park

Image Credits
CV Images, Teller County Film Commission