FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 12, 2008
CONTACT: ALISON COOKE
615-778-1206
ALISON.COOKE@SOUTHERNLAND.COM
JIM CHENEY
615-202-8936
JIM.CHENEY@SOUTHERNLAND.COM
TUCKER HILL HOSTS 2008 PARADE OF HOMES™
Make-A-Wish Foundation® of North Texas and
HomeAid/Home Builders Care to Benefit from Parade
Air Demonstrations and Spectacular Skydiving Part of Festivities
McKinney, TX – Tucker Hill, a Southern Land Company community, will host the 2008 Parade of Homes™ beginning May 17, 2008 and continuing through June 8, 2008. Tucker Hill is a traditional neighborhood now under development on Highway 380 in McKinney.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation® of North Texas – an organization that helps children with life-threatening medical conditions experience their greatest wish – and HomeAid/Home Builders Care – a non-profit created by the Home Builders Association of Greater Dallas dedicated to fighting homelessness – are again the charitable beneficiaries of this year’s Parade.
“This will be the Parade to remember,” said Jim Cheney, VP of communications for Southern Land Company. “The Tucker Hill team, the Home Builders Association of Greater Dallas, and Southern Land Company have been planning for months to create a Parade program that is innovative beyond the typical tour of high-end homes. This will be an opportunity for the DFW area to see something extraordinary in the development of new communities.”
There will be a total of eight homes to view in this year’s Parade. Participating builders include Darling Homes, Flagstone Custom Homes, and Southern Land Company Homebuilding. Five of the homes will contain Make-A-Wish rooms which are designed in accordance with a child’s ultimate wish. The Make-A-Wish Foundation® of North Texas has been a Parade partner for more than 17 years.
“We are very excited about the direction the Parade is taking this year,” said Sandra Harlow, director of special events for the Home Builders Association. “Both charities, the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of North Texas and HomeAid/Home Builders Care, help so many families in our community and we are delighted to work with them.”
On Saturday, May 24th, there will be a Make-A-Wish breakfast and the children will see their rooms for the first time. The breakfast is not open to the general public, but media outlets will be allowed to meet the families and talk about their experience with the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of North Texas. After the breakfast, Radio Disney will be at Tucker Hill all day with music and activities for everyone to enjoy.
“We are honored to once again be a partner with the Parade of Homes,” said Megan O’Brien, Development Officer for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of North Texas. “The Parade not only showcases wishes that have been granted, but also makes more wishes possible in North Texas.”
Parade Details & Dates
On Saturday, May 17th the Parade will begin with a Harley ride which starts in Arlington, Texas. Over 100 riders, who are asked to make a donation to one of the charities, will act as the official grand marshals for the Parade, steering their chrome horses north all the way to the entrance of Tucker Hill.
In addition to the home tours, the Parade will feature a large stage for entertainment and home related demonstrations. Food and drink, including a beer and wine tent, will be available for visitors, and vendors involved in the creation of each home will have a designated area to show off their latest and greatest products. To learn more about times, sponsors and how to purchase tickets, visit www.paradeofhomesdallas.com.
On Sunday, the 25th and Monday, the 26th (Memorial Day), the Parade will feature Aerial Demonstrations and Sky Diving from 12:30 – 2 p.m. The sky divers will jump from the planes and land in Tucker Hill’s famous Founder’s Square – home of the largest residential wrought iron fountain in the United States. The aerial demonstrations will include military formations, World War II planes and acrobatics featuring some of the best stunt pilots in the country.
The following weekend, May 31st and June 1st, will be all about Living Green. Pat Lobb Toyota, the first L.E.E.D. certified automotive dealership in America, will display several hybrid cars at the event. There will also be booths and demonstrations with educational materials, Green product demonstrations and a local radio station hosting Green activities.
To close the parade on the weekend of June 7th and 8th, there will be an Art Fest with artists displaying their work, art in progress, performance art and an interactive children’s art project. Bailey Brown, an American Idol contestant from season 6, will perform on the main stage Sunday afternoon.
Throughout each Parade weekend, the Tucker Hill Discovery Zone will feature activities for children with demonstrations by The Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary, the Collin County Children’s Advocacy Center, Safe Kids and Sky Ranch Camp. Children will be able to plant flowers, learn how to care for turtles and build their own dream home with blocks.
A designated area of the Parade will be devoted to sports activities, including a golf swing as well as a working garage where a drag racing team will be tuning a 1940 Willies.
The event is also open during the week for those people who strictly want to see the beautiful homes. The Parade will be open from 10a.m until 8p.m every day, but closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Monday, May 26th – Memorial Day, is the only Monday that it will be open.
About Tucker Hill
Tucker Hill is a 772-acre residential, mixed-use community located on Highway 380 just north of Stonebridge Ranch, within the city limits of McKinney. Tucker Hill is a traditional neighborhood development that will consist of more than 2,100 new homes upon build-out with an elementary school. It will contain more than 50 acres of open space, community amenities such as pools, two Residents’ Clubs with activities directors, and two retail villages with restaurants, shops and offices. To learn more about Tucker Hill, visit: www.tuckerhilltx.com.
About the Home Builders Association of Greater Dallas (HBA)
The largest home builders association in Texas, the HBA covers a seven-county area of some 5,500 square miles with a population of more than 3 million. Its membership includes more than 800 builders, developers and remodelers and approximately 1,200 associates – suppliers, vendors and associated businesses and services. For more information about the HBA, visit www.dallasbuilders.com.
About the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of North Texas
The Make-A-Wish Foundation grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. Born in 1980 when a group of caring volunteers helped a young boy fulfill his dream of becoming a police officer, the Foundation is now the largest wish-granting charity in the world, with 67 chapters in the United States and its territories. With the help of generous donors and more than 25,000 volunteers, the Make-A-Wish Foundation grants a wish every 41 minutes and has granted more than 153,000 wishes in the U.S. since inception. For more information about the Make-A-Wish Foundation of North Texas, visit www.northtexaswish.org and discover how you can share the power of a wish®.
About Southern Land Company
Southern Land Company is based in Franklin, Tennessee, 15 miles south of downtown Nashville. It is a full service development firm with more than 325 employees between the Tennessee and Texas offices. The company employs architects, landscape architects, homebuilders, town planners, engineers, heavy construction professionals, marketing and sales teams, horticulturalists, and a broad scope of community development professionals. The private firm was founded 21 years ago by the current CEO, Timothy W. Downey. To learn more about Southern Land Company, visit www.southernland.com.
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