Kitchen tours popular at Virginia Highlands Festival

By Debra McCown/Bristol Herald Courier - Ginny Barker (in pink) tells tour participants about the fine features in the kitchen of John and Mary Beth Poma during the Twilight Kitchen Tour on Thursday evening.

One kitchen boasts granite countertops and decorative white cabinets; in another, wormy chestnut and sculpted metal form an entirely different look.

It is a world of pop-up mixers and sliding spice cabinets, microwave drawers and hidden ice makers: Kitchen tours have become a popular and successful means to help fund the Virginia Highlands Festival.

Abingdon is sort of given to tours of homes because there are so many historic places in Abingdon, explained Sue Clark, a member of the festivals board of directors and its home and garden committee, which oversees the kitchen tours. Any time we get to go into some of these old places, we jump at it.

The tours feature a variety of houses, from the historic to the opulent to the typical.

I think they enjoy seeing how other people decorate their homes, said Ginny Barker, a festival volunteer who was showing tour participants around one of the kitchens Thursday.

Two tours are held each year, organizers said: one in the evening and one during the day. This year, the daytime tour sold all 80 tickets at a price of $15 each. The twilight tour sold nearly all of its 70 tickets at a price of $35 each.

Clark said the proceeds pay for such things as tents and setup for the annual 16-day summer festival, which helps drive Abingdon tourism.

Betty Cline and Louise King said they havent missed a single kitchen tour since they began in the early 1960s.

I just love kitchens, Cline said, and I love the new renovations that they come out with every year.

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Kitchen tours popular at Virginia Highlands Festival