{"id":32364,"date":"2022-12-15T18:21:11","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T23:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=32364"},"modified":"2022-12-15T18:21:18","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T23:21:18","slug":"aurorans-show-off-the-spirit-of-the-season-in-deck-the-halls-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/aurorans-show-off-the-spirit-of-the-season-in-deck-the-halls-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurorans show off the spirit of the season in Deck the Halls Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

They\u2019ve hauled out the holly and evergreen boughs, found the perfect places to hang twinkling lights, and festooned their fences with ribbons and ornaments \u2013 now local residents who are bubbling over with the spirit of the season are ready to flip on the switch for the annual Aurora Deck the Halls Tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hosted by the Town of Aurora, the Deck the Halls Tour of spectacularly-decorated local homes was initially conceived at the height of the global pandemic as a way to bring the community together while still allowing residents to stay in their \u201cbubbles\u201d as they drove from sight to sight and site to site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Tour itself proved so popular it\u2019s been brought back for each successive Holiday Season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Launched on Monday, December 12 and running each evening from 5 \u2013 9 p.m. through December 23, more than 25 homes and attractions are on this year\u2019s tour with special attractions planned throughout the length of the self-guided party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe appreciation for the magic of the season, the lights and displays, have only become more popular since we had that time for a pause in 2020 and 2021,\u201d says Shelley Ware, Special Events Coordinator for the Town of Aurora. \u201cThe tour has only grown in momentum and has become a total feel-good experience that has been created by the community for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the participants past and present already went all out on their festive decorations, says Ms. Ware, but she suspects the idea of being on the tour has only helped homeowners \u201cup the ante\u201d on their dazzling displays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Case in point: five homes on Lougheed Court near Sisman Avenue and Timpson Drive coming together for a joint feast for the eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe tour really is a tour to help guide the families in how to find some of the most creative houses,\u201d says Ms. Ware. \u201cAlthough they\u2019re looking specifically for the individual spots [on the tour] they\u2019re still seeing homes between those locations that are highly decorated and this gives them a route to follow and an evening out with the family \u2013 the family they live with, or I do hear from several people it might be the case they\u2019re picking up their parent or a grandparent from a retirement home and taking them out for an evening. It\u2019s heartwarming to hear those stories when they come together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have also heard from some residents that have done the tour in one direction and then reverse the direction and follow the map differently and saw different perspectives that way, which is also cool to hear how people are approaching the tour. We\u2019ve also heard from some that split it up over a series of nights and it becomes their go-to: they have dinner, pack up the car, and this is part of their family time. It is also screen-free time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the 25 tour locations, this Friday, December 16 promises to be an extra-special night with \u201cspecial features and shenanigans along the tour route,\u201d says Ms. Ware. Santa Claus and Ms. Claus, for instance, are set to be at the Joint Operations Centre on Industrial Parkway North that evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe may also be coming with some mischievous elves who may be helping at some of the homes that evening,\u201d says Ms. Ware. \u201cEven if you\u2019ve seen the tour once, see it again. Even though you\u2019re looking for specific homes along the way, there will be other homes organically throughout those routes that will also be decorating. I\u2019m a firm believer that no two tours will be the same. There will always be changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI do feel personally this season is short, so this is a self-guided tour that leads you from one magical spot to another magical spot and I don\u2019t know anyone who can say that we have too much magic \u2013 there\u2019s always room for more!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more, including tour locations, visit www.aurora.ca\/en\/recreation-arts-and-culture\/deck-the-halls-tour.aspx.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They\u2019ve hauled out the holly and evergreen boughs, found the perfect places to hang twinkling lights, and festooned their fences with ribbons and ornaments \u2013 now local residents who are bubbling over with the spirit of the season are ready to flip on the switch for the annual Aurora Deck the Halls Tour. Hosted by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":32365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2022-12-15-05.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8q0","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-21 07:00:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}