The first annual Mineral County Tour of Homes drew more than 70 people from Mineral County, neighboring counties in Montana and the northwest, including visitors from Coeur d’Alene and Washington state.
The tour featured 14 homes representing seven different local builders and numerous local sub-contractors, all built or remodeled within the past year and located in Superior and St. Regis.
The tour also featured several local businesses, including Castles, Old School Antiques, St. Regis Travel Center, Sense of Balance, and Nathan’s Lemonade.
Monte Turner, the host of Montana Today on KECI-TV, attended with his wife Lowie. They are building a home in mineral county and are becoming part of the local community.
The weather was chilly but the snow didn’t start falling until after the event, which was good.
Most of the homes offered free food and beverages for attendees – including cake, coffee, juice, hors d’ouvres, Subway sandwiches, venison sausage, and cookies, to name a few.
We offered a free drawing and people could enter once at each home. Ruth Smith from Superior won the grand prize, a $200 gift certificate to Quinn’s Hot Springs, donated by LR Signature Homes. Toots Bricker won a night’s lodging at Elkhorn Ranch at Rock Creek, donated by Elkhorn Ranch.
Willie Peck from Superior won a $75 gift certificate to Superior Color and Lumber. Joe Worstler from Superior won a Coffee Lover’s Basket donated by Streamside Realty. Lowie Turner from Missoula won a gift Basket donated by St. Regis Travel Center. Pat Gray, Sharon Sweeney, and Rick Carr from Superior won certificates for pizza and pop donated by S&S Foods in Superior.
Winners were notified by phone and prizes can be picked up at Superior Color and Lumber.
Nathan Lapinski from Nathan’s Lemonade set up a stand at 56 Flat Creek Road and did a lot of business and had fun.
Overall, we were very impressed at the response we had from the local community and were encouraged to improve our tour next year.
Some of the challenges we faced were getting all of the homes on a map due to the distances between homes. Also, due to the distances between homes, some of the homes at the end of the tour had fewer visitors. Some people said that they were concerned about the distance due to the gas prices.
We are in the process of forming an LLC – Tour Mineral County, LLC- which will be the organizing group going forward. We had some great suggestions for next year, including having longer hours for people to view the homes, staging and decorating some of the homes, and having a vote on people’s favorite home.
People can call 544-3098 or email monica [at] yourmt [dot] com with any suggestions or ideas for next year. Volunteers are also welcome.
Tour Mineral County would like to thank all of our sponsors, attendees, and we are grateful for all of the support we received to make this year’s event a success.
