The 47th annual Holidays at the Manor House returns to Wildwood Preserve Metropark Saturday, December 3, 2022 through Sunday, December 11, 2022, with free tours of more than 30 holiday displays created by volunteers. Hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
Wildwood is at 5100 W. Central Avenue, Toledo. The Manor House is at the main entrance, with the traffic light.
Restrictions implemented the last two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic have been removed. In 2020, photos and videos provided a virtual tour of the decorations. Last year, in person tours returned, with reservations to limit the number of people in the house at a time. This year, tours will be open house style on a first come basis, as in previous years.
For over 45 years, community volunteers have decorated the 30,000-squre-foot mansion for the holiday season, and no two years have been the same.
“Everything is new, every year, but what hasn’t changed in more than four decades is the primary purpose of Holidays at the Manor House: It is a holiday season thank-you to the community for its support of Metroparks,” said Dave Zenk, executive director of Metroparks Toledo. “The event started as a way to show gratitude for the passage of a levy in the 1970s that allowed the park district to acquire the land that is now Wildwood, and has become a Toledo area tradition.”
Also returning this year: The s’mores tent where visitors can make a sweet treat over an open fire. Carriage rides, pulled by the team of Molly and Sally, the mules from the Canal Experience at Providence Metropark, will return, too. Tickets for the rides are available at MetroparksToledo.com.
The Wildwood Manor House placed second to Elvis Presley’s Graceland Mansion in Memphis in a 2019 USA TODAY Best Holiday Historic Home Tour contest. The house is again one of 20 finalists in the 10Best Readers’ Choice travel award contest, as it has been each of the last four years.
Wildwood Preserve, the former estate of Robert and Page Stranahan, is the most popular of the 19 Metroparks, with nearly 2 million visits annually. The Manor House, formerly the Stranahan family home built in the 1930s, is open for tours at varying times throughout the year and is the venue for numerous public and private events.