Homes sparkle for holiday tour

The Moorpark Holiday Home Tour, scheduled to take place from noon to 6 p.m. on Sun., Dec 9, will showcase five local residences decorated in an assortment of holiday themes.

While touring the homes, visitors will be able to enjoy seasonal melodies performed by high school musicians.

The home tour was hosted by the Boys & Girls Club and the Fortnightly Women's Club in the past, but it has been absent from Moorpark for the last three years, said Deanna Kubit, chair of the 2007 Holiday Home Tour, which is now organized by Moorpark High School music program parents and volunteers.

They decided to host the tour to help the community kick off the season on a colorful note and to raise funds for the students who participate in all music programs offered at Moorpark High.

A holiday boutique is also slated from noon to 5 p.m. at Mesa Verde Middle School. Refreshments will be available at that site. A portion of the proceeds from the event will be given to benefit music programs at both Chaparral and Mesa Verde middle school music programs, Kubit said.

"We enlisted the help of middle schools and will share some of the proceeds with them because they feed young musicians into the high school programs," said Marian Salas, who is opening her family home for the tour.

Both of her daughters are involved in the marching band program. "They get a lot out of it, so it's our way of giving back," she said.

The Salas family has been collecting Department 56 villages for about 20 years. Displays will include 60 buildings, featuring Christmas in the City, a Dickens Village and a North Pole series. Other Christmas decorations, including two trees decked with large collections of ornaments, will also be set up.

String and saxophone quartets will play continuously on the upstairs landing so music can flow down throughout the house as people walk through, Salas said.

"The tour is a nice way to get into the Christmas spirit and to relax. It will be a fun afternoon, and it's for a good cause to help out these young musicians," she said.

Other dwellings featured in the itinerary include a Tuscanthemed residence owned by the Bell family and the Loczi home, which incorporates "World of Holiday" Christmas ornaments that the family collected while traveling and living abroad.

The theme of the Godfrey family home is based on the seasonal movie "It's A Wonderful Life."

"Elenore Godfrey is a history teacher at Chaparral Middle School, and her family truly embraces the theme 'It's A Wonderful Life,' and therefore decorates their home to reflect this family theme," said Kubic.

The last house, which belongs to the Liacko family, is in the Country Club Estates. It will be trimmed in red and gold, and the grounds include an infinity pool overlooking the hills of Moorpark as well as a guest house and a two-story playhouse that was built for the Liacko children.

The holiday boutique at Mesa Verde Middle School on Peach Hill Road will feature local vendors displaying and selling holiday gifts such as jewelry, facial and bath products, holiday cards, scrapbook supplies, leather purses, gourmet food items and baby blankets. The school band will also present a gift basket drawing. Entrance to the holiday boutique is free.

Home Tour tickets may be purchased for $20 in advance or $25 at the door. Tickets are available through any middle school or high school band member or at the Moorpark High School Christmas Tree Lot in the Staples parking lot, Bogart's Hair Salon on Los Angeles Avenue, Designed Dinners on Los Angeles Avenue or Waggin' Tails Grooming Salon on Princeton Avenue.

Anyone purchasing a ticket will also receive a 10 percent discount at the Moorpark High School Christmas Tree Lot.