The Fan District Holiday House Tour comes back Saturday, Dec. 12 and Sunday, Dec. 13, with nine decorated properties open to ticket holders. Most people know it as a December walk. The money from those tickets keeps working into the next spring. Tour proceeds pay for the Fan District Association's Community Grants program, and those grants come back to the blocks where the tour happens.
A $45 ticket gets you a few hours inside nine Fan homes in December, and it also pays toward next May's checks for the Strawberry Street Festival, Fox Elementary's gardens and new trees on Monument Avenue.
December Tickets, May Checks
The Fan District Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based at 208 Strawberry Street. On its 2026 grant announcement, the FDA says the Community Grants program is paid for by "the proceeds of our Holiday House Tour." Each year follows the same calendar.
- December: The tour runs over one weekend, and one ticket covers both days.
- May: The FDA announces grant recipients at its annual meeting. This year's meeting was May 19, 2026.
- The year after: Schools, gardens, arts programs and service groups spend the money, many of them within walking distance of the houses on the tour.
The tour has been running for six decades. The FDA expects more than 1,500 visitors this year. Last December beat that easily. The FDA's 2025 event page says the tour sold out and set a new record with more than 2,000 ticket buyers.
That record weekend paid for the spring 2026 grants. The FDA gave out $48,000 to 20 recipients.
The Grants That Land on Fan Blocks
Many of this year's grants go to groups across Richmond. Several, though, end up on streets Fan residents walk every week:
- Fox Elementary PTA, $5,000 for the Strawberry Street Festival and an outdoor refresh.
- Greater Richmond Fit4Kids, $2,000 for educational gardens at Fox Elementary.
- Historic Monument Avenue, $2,000 for a Monument Avenue tree project.
- Branch Museum of Design, $4,000 for a garden renewal project.
- Birdhouse Farmers Market, $1,500 for a community gardening project.
- Visual Arts Center, $2,000 for the Art After School program.
- Dogwood Middle School PTA, $5,000 for its house system program, and Higher Achievement, $2,000 for the Dogwood Achievement Center.
The rest of the 2026 list reaches past the neighborhood: CAPUP, the Children's Museum of Richmond, Circles RVA, FeedMore's BackPack Program, Girls2Women Teen Mentoring of VA, Health Brigade, Operation Heroes Connect, Re-Establish Richmond, the Richmond Philharmonic's youth concerto competition, the Tee Jay Viking Fund for Thomas Jefferson High scholarships, Uptown Community Garden and Virginia Home's 5K Walk 'n Roll.
Fox Elementary shows the loop most clearly. The restored William F. Fox Elementary School was one of the stops on last year's tour, according to Richmond Magazine's 2025 house tour roundup. Six months later, the school's PTA and a garden program working on its grounds received $7,000 between them from the money that weekend raised.
Nearly Twice the Recipients, Smaller Big Checks
Put the 2026 list next to the one before it and the change is clear. The FDA's Summer 2025 FanFare newsletter lists 11 grant recipients. Three of them got $10,000 each: the Dogwood Middle School PTA, the Fox Elementary PTA and Thomas Jefferson High School for scholarships. Those three awards were most of the money handed out that year.
In 2026 the list grew to 20, and the money spread out:
| Recipient | 2025 grant | 2026 grant | 2026 purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fox Elementary PTA | $10,000 | $5,000 | Strawberry Street Festival and outdoor refresh |
| Dogwood Middle School PTA | $10,000 | $5,000 | House system program |
| Thomas Jefferson High scholarships | $10,000 | $5,000, via Tee Jay Viking Fund | Student scholarships |
| Branch Museum of Design | $2,000 | $4,000 | Garden renewal |
| Visual Arts Center | $1,000 | $2,000 | Art After School |
| Birdhouse Farmers Market | $1,000 | $1,500 | Community gardening |
| Circles RVA | $1,000 | $2,000 | Ally training and support |
| Health Brigade | $1,000 | $2,000 | Integrated health care program |
| Re-Establish Richmond | $2,000 | $2,000 | Community engagement and education |
In 2026 the three school-linked awards added up to $15,000 of the $48,000. The other $33,000 went to 17 organizations. Most groups that returned from 2025 got the same amount or more. Several new names are about planting things in the ground, like Fit4Kids' gardens at Fox, the Monument Avenue tree project, the Children's Museum's outdoor gardens and Uptown Community Garden.
That matters for this December. The FDA has made the grant list longer, so attendance at the tour now supports more programs than it did in 2025. A sold-out weekend sends money to 20 places. A slow one leaves less for all of them.
What This December's Ticket Covers
Here is what the FDA has announced so far for the 2026 tour:
- Dates: Saturday, Dec. 12 and Sunday, Dec. 13.
- Homes: Nine festively decorated properties. The FDA hasn't announced which ones yet.
- Tickets: $45 presale before Dec. 13, or $60 on tour weekend. One ticket works both days, but you can tour each home only once. Tickets are non-refundable.
The FDA's tour page said tickets would go on sale soon and hasn't posted 2026 hours, so check it for the sale date before you plan the weekend. For reference, the 2025 tour ran noon to 5 p.m. both days, with Sunday ticket pickup from 11:30 a.m. at the FDA office on Strawberry Street. The route was mostly walking with small trams available, and the FDA asked visitors not to bring strollers, wear high heels or take photos inside. Richmond Magazine reported that visitors could take the stops in any order and that TukTuks were available too.
If you'd rather help than buy a ticket, the FDA is signing up docents now. Docents help show visitors the Fan's history and architecture. Sponsorships are still open too.
The Fan's other big seasonal night, Halloween on Hanover, depends on individual households. The house tour runs through the FDA's board and volunteer docents, and each December's ticket sales feed the next year's grants.
Strawberry Street, Before the Crowds Arrive
The tour's home base sits on a block that has been changing this fall. Cosette, a women's clothing shop opened by Ariel Richards, opened in October at 427 Strawberry St., Richmond BizSense reported. If you pick up tickets at 208 Strawberry this December, Cosette is a short walk up the same street.
A few blocks over, the Starbucks at 400 N. Robinson St. closed on Sept. 26 after 20 years, one of 250 closures the chain announced nationwide, according to Richmond BizSense. Charlie Diradour's Lion's Paw Development owns the roughly 4,100-square-foot building. BizSense reported that he is already talking with possible new tenants and has dropped his earlier plan for a three-story mixed-use building on the parking lot next door. For tour weekend, that means one less coffee stop on the Robinson Street corner, unless a new tenant opens there first.
The FDA's grant page shows where last December's money went. The 2026 recipient list names the festival, the gardens and the Monument Avenue trees, and the 2027 list will depend on how many tickets sell on Dec. 12 and 13.
These nine homes are open only one weekend a year. If walking through them gets you wondering what your own Fan house could become, or what it would take to restore one, that's where Gary Martin can help. Gary has built more than 300 homes, and he's glad to talk through a renovation you're weighing or what you'd be buying. Let's talk about your Richmond home.
