Looking for some kooky holiday fun? Sophisticated holiday soirées have their place, but if you enjoy a healthy dose of kitsch, The Wacky Tacky Light Tour benefitting Fresh Air Family is the perfect way to ring in the season.
“We are proud to be the anti-Norman Rockwell,” says Verna Gates, the founder and executive director of Fresh Air Family, a non-profit providing outdoor educational activities. Verna has been putting on this one-of-a-kind event for over a decade to raise money for the organization’s award-winning summer science program, Gross Out Camp. Last year, the event raised nearly $62,000 to provide financial aid to more than 800 campers!
Throw on your ugliest Christmas sweater, grab your crew, and let your tacky light shine on this “best-of-the-worst” holiday lights tour through Birmingham.
A Wacky Tour for the Tacky at Heart
For Verna, the wacky light tour fundraiser was a natural extension of her love for all things tacky. “I’ve always loved wacky tacky Christmas lights my whole life,” she explains, “I took a group of friends on a light tour, and we were having a great time. They said we should make it a fundraiser … and it’s become a tradition for a lot of families and groups that come year after year.”
Now in its 14th year, the Wacky Tacky Light Tour shuttles guests all over the Magic City, from Homewood to Crestwood to Mountain Brook, in pursuit of the tackiest holiday decorations. “I personally curate the route,” Verna says, “My standards are low and hard to meet.”
The tour starts from Ironwood Kitchen and Cocktails in Valley Hotel in Homewood. Plenty of parking is available, and you can also take advantage of the hotel’s valet services. Guests can enjoy a drink and a bite while waiting for their tour. They use a fleet of luxury buses that can be reserved for a private tour or joined by fellow tacky decorations enthusiasts. The trip includes a restroom break halfway through the two-hour journey touring Birmingham’s most over-the-top holiday homes. Your tackiest holiday garb and general merriment are strongly encouraged.
Best-Of-The-Worst Tacky Holiday Sights
Homes chosen for the tour reach out to Verna for consideration of her exceedingly low standards. They have some tried-and-true favorites as well as a few new surprises this year. “We have our favorites that we have just fallen in love with,” Verna says. “One is the Gigantus House. It has decorations so big that you can’t see the top of their two-story house behind them. Another home had over 100 inflatables and other decorations.”
There’s also the Hanukkah House, which has garnered international attention for its work against antisemitism. It features a 14-foot menorah, a 7-foot spinning dreidel, a Vulcan replica holding a menorah, and much more. If you’re lucky, the homeowner might just greet your bus with chocolate gelt.
Fresh Air Family’s Gross Out Camps
Believing that a child’s natural habitat is the great outdoors, Verna founded Fresh Air Family in 2006 to make outdoor education more accessible to children and families through events, field trips, and camps. They hold over 70 Gross Out Camps at 26 locations across Alabama every summer. “Our camps and events are basically hands-on field biology,” Verna explains. “Our goal is not to teach kids what to think, but how to think. And science does that better than almost anything else.”
The camp has one guarantee: tired, dirty children. Verna boasts they are a completely screen-free program and that it only takes a few hours at camp before kids forget all about the technology that is so prevalent in their daily lives. “Kids need to be out there getting dirty, getting in the creek, digging for things, and looking at and exploring their world and learning about it. It’s a healthy thing for them to do. They need to be doing more of it.” Verna says.
About 42% of Gross Out Camp campers benefit from financial aid to attend, primarily funded by the Wacky Tacky Light Tour. In addition to their camps, you can join Fresh Air Family with a family membership, which grants you discounted event pricing and access to members-only events.
You can reserve your tickets for the Wacky Tacky Light Tour here. The tours will be on December 12, 17, and 19 and run every 10 minutes from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $49, and private buses are available for groups. You can reserve a bus here.
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