A home and garden tour is being revived to benefit McGilvra Elementary

A real estate office and McGilvra Elementary School have partnered to revive a once well-attended tour of Madison Park homes and gardens.

The new Madison Park Home and Garden Tour is set to take place 12-4 p.m. June 11, after the Shore Run and Walk [See “Shore Run returns June 11,” Page 1]. The tour will feature 10 homes and gardens, in the neighborhood proper and some outside as far as Denny-Blaine, which attendees will be able to visit in any order.

The tour has been organized by Realogics Sotheby’s and the McGilvra PTA, and funds raised will benefit the elementary school’s kindergarten and first-grade programs. Past fundraising by the PTA has helped fund staff positions, like math and reading specialists, and art programs.

“I think we’re all aware of funding issues at the state level and we want to make sure we support the school and our principal,” said Kenna Hart of the PTA.

The PTA hosts several fundraisers throughout the year, and the major annual fundraiser has typically been the spring yard sale. But PTA parent and local public relations professional Cindy Harvey-Benzing had seen successful home and garden tour fundraisers when she lived on the East Coast and suggested it could be done in Madison Park.

Longer term residents remembered that the Madison Park Garden Club had formerly put on a local home and garden tour beginning in the 1980s. The organizers asked club member (and Tree Talk columnist) Steve Lorton to consult.

“I merely gave them ideas and told them about potential pitfalls to be aware of,” Lorton said.

Lorton gave referrals to homeowners who might be willing to open their homes for the afternoon of the tour, and the organizers also picked up volunteers from the McGilvra community and from real estate broker referrals.

The properties are in a variety of architectural styles, from Seattle-classic Craftsman homes, to the boxier modern styles that have proliferated across the city in recent years. One home was built in the German “passive house” standard of energy efficiency, broker and tour organizer John Madrid said.

“There wasn’t any single style we were looking for,” he said. “... They’re all going to be exciting in their own way.”

Tickets for the tour are $25 and can be purchased through www.madisonparkhometour.com. Wristbands will be able to be picked up from the Madison Park Realogics Sotheby’s storefront at 4031 E. Madison St.