hello everyone and thank you for tuning into this episode of belmont and thirty i'm joanna jo jubilance your host senior multimedia journalist for wicked local belmont and the belmont citizen harald and i'm very excited today to talk about a historic event happening in belmont very soon and happening in a historic location in belmont and there are two organizations that have made this possible the junior league of boston and the belmont women's club and joining me today to talk about it are two representatives from those organizations to my left karen page and to her left nancy sarus welcome ladies thank you for having you know you're welcome i'll tell you a little bit about our our guests carrot is from merrimack new hampshire she's been a member of the junior league of boston since two thousand and she is the current president nancy has lived in belmont since  hundred two and she's been involved with the belmont women's club since the early two thousand and she's been called president since two thousand and fifteen you know what i want to do is tell you what the event is first of all tell you what the event  am so excited about this event it is the two thousand and seventeen designer show house now a lot of people don't know what that is so we're going to going to fill everybody in on that but first i thought would be a good idea to talk about the organizations behind it so karen i going to ask you to tell everyone a little bit about the junior league first short so the journalling of boston has been active in and around the city of boston for over one hundred ten years we're an organization of women committed to promoting volunteerism developing the potential of women and improving our local communities and we do that through the effective action leadership of train volunteers so we're very proud to be the second oldest chapter in this organization and that encompasses two hundred forty two hundred ninety two leagues forty two leagues in four different countries that with a membership that's over one hundred fifty thousand women and so so we have a you know quite a legacy there in boston  members work in the community and around the health and wellness of girls so we have a lot of programs where we bring girls in our volunteers interact with them we really help promote their communication skills their confidence their self esteem through you know getting them to explore the arts the sciences good nutritional choices life choices accent so that really sounds wonderful no men in this organization  women's only organization ok but the belmont women's club even though it has that name recently has opened it up for male males to joining in fact markopolos on the board and sammy baghdad he's a member i don't know he's on the board of directors the director as well so nancy i want to tell everybody about the belmont women's club for people who don't know the belmont women's club was founded back in one twenty a bunch of ladies who felt that their husbands were having far too much fun on their own so the ladies decided to get together and they were taking turns at each other's homes basically playing bridge and having kind of women's conversations which i think is pretty cutting edge back in one thousand twenty  seven the women had been looking for a clubhouse a place that they could call their own and they were very fortunate to find the old eighteen pretty three home or house as being available in the house had been once the homers were out of the home and had changed hands several times and the house was actually going to be raised and seven house lot seven houses would have been built in that location and it was a handful of women that basically got together and  her name was actually belle chafee mrs emery chaffee who started the solicitation of funds and got everybody really riled up i actually have a copy of a letter i think i sent it to joanna dated back in march of one nine hundred twenty seven where she was really getting the membership excited about buying this property so they purchased the house at six sixty one pleasant street for twenty five thousand dollars and it was a big deal back then it was a huge amount of money they couldn't get funding they got their husbands to donate and they got local people and whatever to raise the funds they had to actually finance part of it about the last five thousand which was again pretty cutting to ninety years ago you know so it's it's fascinating history and over the past ninety years there's been several generations of women that have just preserved and maintained this house through their own fundraising efforts there may ship dues and their own contributions so if it weren't for the moment women's club that house wouldn't be standing absolutely not and we're going to talk about the show house there isa hoon and which is taking place in this historic home but what we did was we put together our producer jeremy reserve put together a video very very brief video to show you the house probably one who hasn't seen it but even if you have it it's beautiful to see this video and it's beautiful so here's here's video i mean i think there's actually cheers in your eyes nancy after what admittedly so really does show the beauty of that home and now with this show house it's going to reste or that  beauty in a whole new way so can you tell me how the relationship with the two organizations began and think they know this there's a history here there sure is and i'm sorry to be so emotional i am passionate about this house i am passionate about the history that we have in belmont i just think that people kind of think of us as kind of sleepy town that not a lot happens and i think it's just so important that people are aware of the beauty that exists in the walls here and the history that we have i'll tell you a little bit about the contact it was interesting i had received a phone call from susie and to be no and it was kind of a hey susan to be know here i'm with the junior league of boston like to talk to you about potentially being involved in the show house and you know not to get into a tremendous monday tale but we had several conversations several meetings karen was at some of the meetings issues president elect at the time and we had them at the house and we began showing the house to more and more of the junior league executive board members and more and more people follow up with the house it's there's just something about it that is just so traditional so time honored that it's i think i'd be very hard to not fall in love with it and the junior league out of the final four i think that we were part of the selection process selected us and i have to tell you we are grateful the reality is the house had really fallen into disrepair and we were trying to raise the funds to renovate the house and you know it's kind of like when something isn't in great condition it's more challenging to raise the funds because people feel that they're giving their money to something that may or may not happen or may or may not make a difference so that's where we were challenged and having this junior league as our partners i couldn't be more proud i mean i am so proud to be part of the membership that i've gotten to know from the junior league th e women are fabulous they are committed they're strong they're talented and knowledgeable they roll up their sleeves i have never seen a more unique committed group of women in my entire life and i'm proud of our membership but to see what you have done and do year over year to meet karen i have to tell you it's absolutely mind boggling and extremely impressive really i mean it's been wonderful to work with you thank you karen can you tell us how why did the junior league choose the team fifty three so you know it's a grand house of course it's you know people drive by it and they've told me many people told me i drive that by that every day and i wish i could look inside that it's it's up on that hill and you know people just it just draws people to it you know there's different things that we look at when we select a show house it has the two staircases which ensured a good flow for visitors it had enough spaces where we could bring in about twenty designers and you know we were really drawn as well to that connection with the belmont women's club you know just the the mission of them  promoting education and community involvement for women in belmont you know that was such a great parallel to our own mission and so that really kind of drew us to this partnership and you know we're we're we're very proud of this this house and this partnership and and we can't wait for people to see that so what exactly is happening at the house now as we prepare for the upcoming opening date of october seventh so the construction phase is now complete search should be complete and the designers are in their move in phase so they're moving a lot of the roads the furniture the draperies all the you know the lamps and all the little things into the room so so we're in the final stages and were you know we're very excited to open next week and for the public to see the house as i said and i've had the chance to see the house in various stages over the past couple months and the transformation that the designers and all of their contractors have have made is just it's just incredible and you know i can't wait for you nancy to see the finished product in your members and you know it should be really exciting event what can you tell us about the seventy one in western mass and and since then that really started a tradition of so dearly boston working together with the design community on this type of a project and it's become a signature fundraiser for us but also a way that the design community can really help the community and get involved so the benefit to them of course is that they showcase their their talents and their inspirations and their ideas  you know the public gets to see that we you know in the spring we had sort of a bare bones party if you will and designers came in they could see all the rooms and then they could submit i think they can sum it up to three proposals for different rooms in the house they got to pick which room they wanted they they did and so some rooms had a lot of designers proposing for that space and others had had fewer designers and so we had a selection committee that really looked through all of the proposals and  you know considered things like was that design going to fit with the style of the house was where the designs going to flow well from room to room and so so we have over twenty designers selected some of them have worked  how how it's decorated what's at the junior league or are you just give them kind of free rein but give them parameters and into the belmont women's club have any say like oh no we absolutely they they can't touch this particular part of the house or like i know there's a contract and there's a lot of negotiating but yeah lengthy process and they were sort of thing love also worry worries because i think in the past there was a show house a long time ago and i don't know there were changes made that a sometimes complained about but i not too familiar with that maybe you can tell i tend to be probably one of the more contemporary presidents and i feel that sometimes you have to take a risk you have to put yourself out there right and given the condition of the home we couldn't afford to spend a quarter million dollars or more to just paint and refurbish the inside and renovate inside we've got a lot of work to do on the exterior which we're hoping now that the interior is is being done we can really raise our funds to finish the finials and the edges of porches and the work out you know on the exterior as i say certainly the driveway needs help and the  roof but you have to start somewhere and so i was i think i was pretty flexible with the junior league as far as painting etc you've got to give an organization like that you're nearly there experience they've done this many many many times you say you know  want to try to keep it traditional kind of in line with the houses bone so to speak with its own foundation but you have to give the designers some free rein the designers are giving their time and their talent and their pain or their soliciting donations from various merchants etc for paint and other things so you you have to let them flow and i'm sure there'll be some people who will maybe not like the color choices or not be happy but the reality is this it's looking beautiful and it's fresh and it's new and i can't imagine anyone who would not be curious about seeing what the inside of this house is and i can tell you every time we ran an educational event like literacy on the lawn people who have brought their children to these educational events are shocked at how beautiful the house is a lot of them have seen a lot of them never saw it people didn't know what it was or and i can tell you i drove by it probably for ten years before i finally asked yeah i just assumed people lived there and they were maybe older and the lights were not a lot i had no idea so i can't imagine why anyone would want to take this monthlong opportunity to to really see everything from top to bottom so it's a cam what what will someone  experience if they purchase your show house ticket which we're going to be telling everyone how to do that as well it opens to the public october seventh and the rooms are fifth again are there certain hours certain days that it's not all been so our opening weekend will be starting saturday october seventh then run through that monday of columbus day every day weekend after columbus day it will be open from wednesday to sunday every week until november fifth what will hours so the hours we're are on our website i think it's around ten to five or ten to eight depending on the day yeah and you know people can purchase tickets for a discounted rate up until october sixth online and then there's discounts for group tickets as well and all of that information is available on our web site is the web site w w w dot boston show how stuck calm and show house dot com so there to kind of guide you through the house but there's about twenty different unique spaces that you know each with its own unique design or where their own inspiration for that space you know it's it's really an exciting events all of the spaces you know every room is different and it's really the interior has just so had a complete make over and so while the house was was very beautiful before now it just sort of takes it to that next level and so people will go through and they'll get inspiration for their own homes still they'll see ideas that they hadn't really thought of before they'll see different different paint schemes different textures in the room that they in different rooms that they hadn't thought of before and i always find it fun each so show house to ask people what their favorite room was because everyone will always have a favorite yeah yeah so it's kind of sounds like you're touring in one of those newport mansion  talk about we need a bathroom that's the reality is the bathroom and say right now is a tiny thing under the stairs and when you show when you show the house for parties or a wedding you couldn't imagine anyone being dressed in an elegant you know imagine but i think that we'll be in a position where we can begin to rent the house and again draw more attention to it people will want to see it they'll want to be part of it membership we got about ten new members this year i think purely on the you know exhilaration of the show house and all the all the talk that that's created locally and that's a big deal for us have that's ten percent growth you know so that's fantastic for us it's nothing when you have a thousand members but for us it's a great beginning and i look at this like kind of the next chapter of how we grow the house grow the visibility of the house and the potential to raise the funds to finish the exterior why don't you tell me about the big the big fund raiser  that junior league was gave gave millions called one day to have their own fundraiser as part of the show house when the entire one of the members had when i talked about the contract there was a lot of i would say some dissension so to speak over whether or not to to engage in this because some people are just you know that is human nature don't like change it's kind of they like it the way it is but the reality is we can't preserve this home if we don't raise money to save it  membership dues alone pays the electricity basically so we just don't have that flexibility so the junior league was kind enough very kind to give us one day where we could invite our members and their friends etc and we are charging and there was a fifty dollar like giving it away we also didn't want to give the tickets away for the obvious reason we want to help the junior league raise funds as well i mean they were they were really the driving force behind the renovations and we want to see your early make the money t and or you could contact me i think you had my name in the under is name in the paper last right and so they're on sale now they're on sale now we just started selling them and from one end it is fifty dollars and you also get two complimentary raffle tickets on now is probably where over two hundred and so we're going to have probably three big gift baskets available and we're going to give two complimentary tickets as you just mentioned joanna along with having raffle tickets for sale that day of the event we will draw the end of the day will just ask people for their name and telephone number on the tickets nothing complicated and they're going to be various themed baskets you know thinking that holidays are right around the corner so there will be some very interesting wine of course and there's  in tiffany's basket so to speak and so we're working on some exciting things yeah well it's very exciting is very happy to have you both on the show and people should really try to support the fundraiser october seventeenth if you can't make a donation to the bella women's club and definitely also you know get your friends because this is a great event you have from october seventh to november fifth it's a great event for women and men children so children under twelve are not allowed in the house right right that's been a strict rule and all of our show has but but it will be great and you can get tickets through through the website which again is w w w dot boston show house dot com great and i'm covering this in the papers every week leading up to it so be sure to to look at the paper profits and i think it's just it's really exciting this is a historic event for belmont it's it's really it's huge i just want to mention too that junior league and myself we've worked with the local belmont center businesses that are offering ten percent so if they show the a ticket  time during the period of october seventh through november fifth they will receive ten percent off their perch raised to know or sell them for this will help this will help belmont almost center as well and i know i'm organizing a lot of different groups of my friends to go see and then go have brunch or lunch or dinner afterwards i can go to belmont all the shops and almost center as well as cushing square and you know we have a lot of great a lot of great shops joshing square as well and some of them are helping promote the event i know you've got  everyone for for tuning in in think our producers will want media center jeremy julie jeff thank you to everyone who helps make all this possible and i forgot to mention that nancy is is a board on the belmont media center as well so thank you thank you for having us john be sure to get your tickets