Saturday, December 11th
By Ann Marie Byrd, Feature Writer
Christmas in New Bern is one of the most magical times of the year, and the Holly & the Ivy Historical Homes Tour is a favorite event to raise holiday spirits! Held by the New Bern Woman’s Club, the tour is scheduled for Saturday, December 11 from 10:30am until 3:30pm. The $15 tickets go on sale at both Harris Teeter locations and The Bank of the Arts on Saturday, November 20.
The tour consists of six lovingly restored historic homes beautifully decorated for Christmas. During the tour of homes, guests will also be able to partake of homemade cookies and warm apple cider and enjoy music provided by the Silver Lining Singers, a talented all women a capella singing group, as well as other entertainment. The New Bern Woman’s Club members participate as docents and provide interesting historical and architectural information on the homes themselves throughout the tour.
The homes tour has been New Bern Woman’s Club signature fundraiser event for the last 22 years and all net proceeds go to benefit charitable causes in the New Bern community, including three annual college scholarships. Staying true to their mission to support and give back to the New Bern community, the club has utilized funds from the tour in the past to provide relief in times of crisis, as the needs of the community change from year to year. Jeaninne Billingsley, who is the Chairman of the 2021 Holly & Ivy committee, says “Following Hurricane Florence in 2018, the City of New Bern asked that we uplift the community by continuing with our plans for the tour. That year we donated all net proceeds to the Salvation Army and the Craven County Emergency Responders to refurbish their search and rescue kits.”
The club has also had great success raising funds through their Christmas notecards sale, which began in 2020. Chris Skrotsky, NBWC President, says “The charming local card features a nighttime scene of Pollock Street with the Baxter clock and New Bern City Hall’s clock tower blanketed with snow. The card was created from a photograph that was taken by a local photographer, after a magical and unusual winter snowfall. If you want to know who deserves the photo credit, you’ll have to buy a package of cards! Last year the cards were sold out thanks to our merchants, Poor Charlie’s Antiques, Mitchell Hardware and Pic Frame & Gallery. The price will be the same this year, $12 for ten cards with envelopes, which you will recognize as a bargain if you’ve shopped for greeting cards lately.”
Funds from both the homes tour and the notecards sale go to the three NBWC scholarships, the Craven Community College’s student emergency loan fund, Friends of The Library, and the Craven Concerts music programs for fifth graders, to name a few. NBWC also supports veterans via Veterans Base Camp & Organic Gardens, animals through donations to Colonial Capital Humane Society, and hunger issues through donations to local Salvation Army and Religious Community Services. Additionally, NBWC is proud to support Smart Girls, which is a program within The Boys & Girls Club that encourages teen girls to make good choices in their youth, as well as Meals-on-Wheels delivery routes.
The New Bern Woman’s Club was established in 1905 and has always been made up of women with “kind souls and great hearts.” As the Holly and Ivy Publicity Chairman Bren Hooks Harris puts it, “We reach-out with our hands, hearts and funds for the community.” Since its inception over a hundred and fifteen years ago, NBWC has achieved extraordinary things, including beautification of several of New Bern’s public spaces, the building of Union Point Park in the 1930s, soup kitchens during the depression, and relief from natural disasters and fire. Their legacy in our community history has been to provide a steadying and compassionate force for the greater good.
Says President Chris Skrotsky, “We might not be big or powerful, but we are active and work toward the betterment of our local society in as many ways as we have women.”