The 2021 Parade of Homes will be in-person and virtual this year: Here’s what you need to know [photos] | Home & Garden

Unique challenges

For students at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, the Parade of Homes is not simply a way to market a home or offer design inspiration. It’s also a learning experience and a step toward their future. The pandemic has made that particularly challenging.

Thaddeus Stevens students have been entering the Parade of Homes since 2017. Building a home is part of the curriculum for each class, with framing in the fall and finishing in the spring.

The class of 2020 was ahead of schedule on its townhome entry at 1 Hull Court, in a small development off Route 741, when the lockdown hit last year, recalls carpentry instructor Dan McCord.

“We literally were working on it one day, and the next day we were told, ‘You can’t come back,’ ” he says.

This year’s graduating class was not able to start their own home in the fall due to COVID-19, McCord says. Instead, they’ve been tasked with finishing last year’s home.

“They totally had an uphill climb,” he says. “They had to finish someone else’s work.”

When they were able to re-enter the home at the start of the spring semester in January, they were met with an eerie scene: tools scattered about and projects half-finished, a sign of the abrupt halt to the project nearly a year earlier.

Since then, the class of 2021 has been putting their own stamp on the project, finishing the master bath, the basement with custom bar, and more, McCord says.

The Thaddeus Stevens Parade of Homes entry also will feature a first-floor owner’s suite with a smartphone-controlled shower, a patio and a large open balcony.

“The houses have gotten progressively more involved,” McCord says. “This one this year is the biggest one we’ve done.”

For the students, building a home to enter in the Parade means more than just a grade. It’s a chance for them to compete against other local builders who could be their potential employers.

“It is a tool for the student. It gives them a goal. It’s a culmination of what they learn here,” McCord says. “They have to buy into it. There’s deadlines, commitments. So far they’ve always come through.”

The school will build one more house in the current development; then they will need to find land elsewhere, McCord says.

Expanding horizons

That search for land in some ways reflects another evolution in the life of the Parade of Homes. As many of the communities promoted in the early tours began to fill up, Capanelli notes, the Parade became a showcase of possibilities for custom home builders and, more recently, remodelers.

“The BIA is here to serve their members and benefit their members,” Garman says. “They’ve opened up the Parade to their remodelers, and there’s a number of builders that also do multifamily (construction).”

Garman Builders is among those who have entered remodeling projects in the tour of homes over the past few years. Two of those whole-house makeovers have won the Parade’s prestigious Fulton Award.

“In Lancaster County, as land becomes harder and harder to find, we have clientele who love their neighborhood, they love their neighbors, they love the convenience of where they currently live. They might love that big old oak tree in their front yard,” Garman says. “(But) it might be time for an update or the home doesn’t meet their needs.”

For only the second time, this year’s Parade also will feature an apartment — this time from Garman’s Market Square Apartments in Leola. Rental communities, particularly those that include open spaces where people can connect, are popular with millennials, Garman says.

Reflecting the way we live is what keeps the Parade going strong, he says.

“Our fondest memories are made in a home,” he says.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s a new home, a remodeled home or a rental complex.

“It’s where we live life … It’s about the community. It’s our lifestyle. We’re happy to be able to showcase that.”

For more information: lancasterparadeofhomes.com