It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a Memory Monday prompt so I’m ready to get back into my regular routine again. This time I’m thinking about the Parade of Homes I recently attended. You might remember that last year I posted about the UP house. It’s going to be hard to ever top that one, but it was fun to see the new offerings this year. I think my favorite one was the home referred to as “the blogger house” because it was decorated by a handful of famous bloggers.
The house was very charming and I loved a lot of the little touches. The dining room light fixture was my favorite!
I loved all the paneling treatments on the walls.
Great use of smaller spaces.
Lots of fun touches of color!
And clever pieces of art.
I would love to have one of these in my yard!
I took some pictures from some of the other houses that I will share in future posts as well. Today I’m thinking about the actual event that is the Parade of Homes. I know they have them in other parts of the country, but I was surprised to learn that the Salt Lake Parade of Homes is the longest consecutive running Parade of Homes in the United States. This was the 66th year! I remember going to the Parade of Homes several times as a kid. I always hated it back then. My parents were always looking at houses and I felt like it was pure torture. The funny thing is that my son probably despises it even more than I did, but he’s a much better sport about it. Back then, all the houses were close to each other so it wasn’t that hard to go and look at them. Now they are spread out over the entire valley and it takes days to go around and see them if you want to do more than 3 or 4 locations. They also charge $15 per person for tickets which I think is a little outrageous, especially considering that in some of the houses we just had to peek into rooms that were roped off. After we spent $60 for the four of us to attend, I at least thought we should be able to walk into the rooms! Most of the homes didn’t even have finished basements so it felt like we were only viewing half of the house.
We’ve gone to a lot of Parade of Homes over the years, but I think we are ready to take a break for awhile now. We had to put booties over our shoes, wait in long lines while they tried to scan our tickets with an app that didn’t work, and move quickly through crowded homes. Then we were bombarded with sales people as we exited the garages who were peddling everything from water heaters to food storage. In all fairness, this only happened when we went on a Saturday. I visited the blogger house in the middle of the week and that was a much better experience. Still, I can think of a lot better ways to spend $60.
I guess as I reflect on my Parade of Homes memories, I’m realizing that I don’t have a lot of good ones. It was drudgery when I was a kid. As an adult, it’s hard to put my son through it, and the whole thing has become so commercialized and crowded that it’s hard for me to find enjoyment in the experience. From what I understand, some areas still offer their Parade of Homes as a free event. Does your area have a Parade of Homes? How much does it cost to attend? Is this something you have gone to in the past? What are your thoughts on going through professionally decorated homes? Do you go home and feel like you need to redo everything in your own house? (I do!) Interesting things to think about on a Memory Monday!
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