11th Annual Historic Home Tour and 1st Annual Wine Tasting event

The St. Cloud Historic & Neighborhood Preservation Association presents its Annual Historic Home Tour and First Annual Wine Tasting on Saturday, June 27, 2009.

Home Tour begins at 10:00 am at Barden Park on the corner of 5th Ave. and 8th St. S, across from St. Cloud State University. Bring your tickets to our desk, or buy tickets there on the day of tour.

NEW LOWER TICKET PRICES! This year admission is $8 in advance or $10 at the Barden Park tour desk the day of the event. Tickets may be purchased after June 1 at the following outlets: St. Cloud Byerly's, Coborn's Sauk Rapids, the new Coborn's Superstore on Cooper Ave. S., and Cashwise Video. Please make all checks payable to "SCH&NPA". All tour guests must be 12 years or older, and wine tastersd 21 years or older. In most homes guests will be asked to wear socks and carry their shoes while in the home, unless you wear orthopedics or removing your shoes is too difficult for health reasons. Homes are not wheelchair accessible.

Our First Annual Wine Tasting, conducted by Westside Liquors somalier Jeff Anderson, will run from 1:00-3:00 pm at the final tour home. The wine tasting is included in your tour ticket price. We ask that you make the tasting house the last stop on your tour as your completed tour guide book will serve as your ticket to the tasting.

Come visit the South Side University Neighborhood, founded in 1856. The homes will be arranged on an easy walking route through the South Side and Barden Park Historic Districts, with information on each home's history and architecture. The tour begins at the newly restored Barden Park Bandstand on the corner of 5th Ave. and 7th St. S. As you probably know, it is the place where the St. Cloud Municipal Band has played summers for over 100 years. If you didn't know, it’s good you found out now! Barden Park is across the street from the Miller Library on the campus of SCSU. Styles featured on this year's tour will range from the Gothic Revival Bandstand, Queen Anne Victorian, Craftsman, Colonial Revival to country French. There are fine examples utilizing historic St. Cloud yellow brick and several colors of our own St. Cloud granite.

Want up to $25,000 to live in our neighborhood?

Our neighborhood and the St. Cloud HRA (320-252-0880) is offering up to $25,000 in down payment grants for families and individuals who want to live in our historic downtown neighborhood by converting a current rental property into a family home. For information on grants, a list of neighborhood amenities, and homes for sale in our neighborhood, contact richkelly1@yahoo.com We would love to have you as a neighbor!

The event is sponsored by St. Cloud Historic & Neighborhood Preservation Association (SCH&NPA) and St. Cloud Granite City Days. SCH&NPA was founded in 1988 as a community non-profit corporation of homeowners, civic leaders, and others concerned with rescuing and restoring the structural history and neighborhood integrity of the core city. We hope to educate the public about the irreplaceable architectural treasures being lost and give incentives for people to rediscover our core city neighborhoods. Through volunteer efforts of various kinds, this group works to fund restoration and new homesteader incentives, design educational projects and monitor political activities affecting the quality of life in older city neighborhoods. We were founding members of the St. Cloud Neighborhood Coalition.