The annual Clifton Candlelight Tour of Homes — which also includes a Caroling on Horseback parade — will be held Saturday, Dec. 3, in the historic Town of Clifton. The parade begins at 2 p.m. and is sponsored by the Clifton Horse Society. Local residents decorate their horses in holiday finery and parade through the town singing Christmas carols.
The homes tour is from 4-7:30 p.m. Five homes will be open to the public, as well as three churches and the Clifton caboose. And local choirs will perform in the churches, on the half hour, from 4:30-6:30 p.m. The traditional lighting of the town Christmas tree and carol singing will be at 8 p.m. in Ayre Square on Main Street.
Raffle tickets will be on sale for prizes including dinners at local restaurants and a one-night stay at the Canary Cottage Bed & Breakfast in Clifton.
Homes tour tickets are $15, adults; $5, children ages 4-12. Ages 3 and under are free, but strollers are not allowed. Tickets may be purchased in Centreville at Ribbons Hallmark in Centrewood Plaza, and in Clifton at Baskets & Boughs, the Clifton Store, Cottage Art, All that Glitters, Noodles & Noggins and the Clifton Coffee Mill. They're also available at the Temptations gift shops in Burke and in the Colonnade Shopping Center at Union Mill.
Co-chairs of the event are Lynne Garvey Wark and Jennifer Chesley. For more information, contact Wark at 703-322-1811 or at lghassoc@erols.com, or Chesley at 703-830-2129.
<tgl> — Bonnie Hobbs