Tanner House Museum to be open for annual Holiday Showcase

The 1857 Tanner House Museum will be open for its 12th annual Holiday Showcase, offering free self-guided tours for eight days in December, beginning Sunday, Dec. 11.

The home of the prominent William and Anna Tanner family is decorated for the holidays each year by volunteer decorators and designers. The house is now owned and operated as a house museum by the Aurora Historical Society. The house was a gift to the historical society from William Tanner's children, Mary Tanner Hopkins and Martha Tanner Thornton, affectionately referred to as the Tanner twins. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

This year, the participants are Claudia Randolph (parlor), Scott Sherwood (library), Beverly Robinson of Trinity Flowers and Gifts (upstairs bedroom), Mary Clark Ormond (dining room), Barbed Wire Betties roller derby team (downstairs bedroom), Surekha and Ankita Pal (sitting room), Patti Baroni (kitchen) and Pauline Fohrman (master bedroom). You can even join the fun by voting for your favorite room.

The house will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays and Wednesdays, Dec. 11-28, except Christmas Day, and 4 to 7 p.m. Fridays, Dec. 16-30.

The Tanner House Museum is at 304 Oak Ave., the corner of Oak Avenue and Cedar Street in the Tanner Historic District.

Admission is free but donations are appreciated. For information, visit aurorahistory.net or www.facebook.com/AuroraHistory/, or call (630) 906-0650.