HCC celebrates 50 years as fall tour returns
Heights Community Congress (HCC) is proud to announce that its Heights Heritage Home & Garden Tour will return for its 43rd year on Sunday, Sept. 18, from noon to 6 p.m. This year's theme: The Tour is Back in Town!
This year marks the 50th anniversary of HCC, which formed in response to the results of the historic St. Ann Audit of Real Estate Practices in Eastern Cuyahoga County in 1972. That year, five brave women from St. Ann Church published their findings on racial discrimination in real estate selling practices throughout Cleveland Heights, triggering a series of legal and community actions which forever changed the community.
The five committee members who researched and produced the St. Ann Audit are honorary chairs of this year’s tour.
All proceeds from HCC's tour support its fair housing and diversity programs, and tickets are 100% tax-deductible.
The 2019 tour was abruptly cancelled due to the microburst storm that hit parts of Cleveland Heights just prior to the start of the tour weekend. The storm knocked out power, toppled trees, and damaged numerous properties, including three homes and two churches that were to be featured on the tour. Following that disappointment came the COVID pandemic years that led to tour cancellations in 2020 and 2021.
This year, the tour will showcase six elegant and unique Cleveland Heights properties. They include a colonial with a recently renovated kitchen and bath, a stately Tudor mansion, a remarkable backyard garden oasis, an English brick cottage and garden, a contemporary solar-powered home with tropical foliage, and the magnificently restored exterior grounds of Harcourt Manor.
Ticket holders can also take a guided tour of the landmark Fairmount Presbyterian Church, partake of light snacks, and view a special display about the history of HCC over the course of its 50 years of service to the community.
Advance tickets are $20; after Labor Day, all tickets will be $25. Tickets are available online at www.heightscongress.org, and in person at the following businesses: Appletree Books, Bremec on the Heights, Heinen’s (on South Green Road), The Stone Oven Bakery & Café, Tommy’s, and Zagara’s Marketplace.
Heights Community Congress is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
Les Jones
Les Jones, a 45-year resident of Cleveland Heights, is president of HCC's Board of Trustees, and has served on the Heights Heritage Home & Garden Tour planning committee every year since 1990. He is a past president of the boards of Reaching Heights and the Forest Hill Home Owners Association.