Plenty to do at 41st Old West End Festival

The Detroit Party Marching Band, including John Notarianni on trumpet, left, Elle Gotham, on cymbals, and Paul Mardirosian, on tenor, all of Detroit, play at last year's Old West End Festival.

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The Detroit Party Marching Band, including John Notarianni on trumpet, left, Elle Gotham, on cymbals, and Paul Mardirosian, on tenor, all of Detroit, play at last year's Old West End Festival.

The much-anticipated annual Old West End Festival gets under way for the 41st year on Saturday and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.

The popular event in the neighborhood off Monroe Street across from the Toledo Museum of Art attracts thousands of people each spring. Entertainment, food, garage and yard sales, children's activities, an art fair, parade, and a 5K walk and run are among the highlights.

A special feature of the 103rd King Wamba Carnival Parade on Saturday morning is the appearance of members from Cirque du Soleil, which is performing Quidam at the Huntington Center June 6 to 10. The parade begins at 10 a.m. There will also be art cars, floats, and other performance art and musical presentations, with the coronation ceremony to crown this year's king and queen in front of the Mansion View Inn.

Also set for Saturday is the antique car show in Toledo Spain Park in front of the Park Lane Luxury Apartments. On both days, the site of the art fair is on the grounds of the Glass Pavilion of the TMA.

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Tours of private residences are always a festival highlight. This year's tourists will see seven historic homes and mansions on Collingwood Boulevard and Scottwood Avenue.

Homes on Collingwood include the Hayes Home. It was originally the home of Toledo gambling king-pin Gerald James "Jimmy" Hayes, who was murdered in 1934 in Detroit. The 14-room house -- not counting the three full and three half baths -- is owned by Bill Schroeder and Lawrence Stine.

Mr. Stine, the author of Historic Old West End Toledo, Ohio, said the dining room boasts an original crystal chandelier and the original French Zuber wallpaper of an Italian garden. Other features of the 4,135-square-foot house include leaded glass windows and an abundance of walnut woodwork.

The Reynolds Secor Home, built in 1887 and known more widely as the Mansion View Inn, has hand-carved 13-foot high ceilings, stained glass, and Italian marble. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Leaded glass windows, beams in the dining room ceiling, an inlaid tile address marker, and stucco exterior make the John Killets Home on Collingwood special.

On Scottwood, oak and cherry woods with egg and dart moldings highlight the first floor of the LaPlante Home, a Queen Anne style house built in 1895.

The Terhune-Sherman Lindberg Home also on Scottwood boasts a stained glass front door from England, front and back staircases, and in the foyer is Lincrusta wall covering -- a deeply embossed wall covering.

First built for German brewer Hermann Dick, the 9,733-square-foot Dick-Blevens Minnich Home on Scottwood has five gas fireplaces, a solarium, and two wall-length mirrors that are original to the house.

The Todd-Sampayo Home on Scottwood is reminiscent of the Regency Revival style home, with its spacious rooms and smooth stucco exterior.

Tickets for the tours are $12 per person. Advance purchases of tickets are $10 each. The tickets are also $10 for anyone who donates four canned goods to benefit St. Paul's United Methodist Church, and for anyone who donates four canned pet food goods that will go to the Humane Ohio Pet Food Bank. Additionally, for an adult to tour a single house, tickets are $4. There is no charge for children under age 12 to tour.

Further festival information is available at www.toledooldwestend.com. For more details about the race, call 419-242-3433.

Contact Rose Russell at: rrussell@theblade.com or 419-724-6178.