OCEAN CITY — Historic house tours are a December staple in Cape May, Dennisville and several other communities, but not in Ocean City, at least not other years.
That’s set to change with a planned walking tour of several homes and businesses Saturday, with a mapped tour of several properties decorated for the holidays.
“Ugly holiday sweater optional … but awesome,” reads a notice of the free event.
The house tour was the idea of Sne Avichal, the innkeeper at The Scarborough Inn at 720 Ocean Ave., where the planned tour starts and stops.
Response has been strong. This week, the inn posted a notice that it would no longer accept RSVPs for the free tour, or even requests to be placed on a waiting list. There is still room for volunteers to help lead tours, assistant innkeeper Jackie Tanner said Wednesday.
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The holiday tours presented in Cape May are among the year’s biggest events for MAC, a community organization there, and other holiday tours have proven popular attractions, although some were canceled or went virtual for a few years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tanner believes this is a first for Ocean City, a shore town that long ago had quiet winters but now sees big crowds for downtown holiday events and for the annual First Night celebration, an alcohol-free New Year’s Eve event held in multiple venues that has grown to be an annual tradition for many families.
Tours run from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday.
Plans are to make the tours an annual tradition. Homeowners who are not on this year’s tour have reached out to The Scarborough about being included in future tours.