Bluff View Art District's annual open house on the Friday after Thanksgiving, November 27, will this year also play host to Chattanooga's first visit from Santa Claus. The veranda of the T.C. Thompson guest house on High Street, one of the District's three bed and breakfast homes, will be the site of the big guy's first stop of many throughout Chattanooga during the holiday season. Kids and kids at heart are invited to visit with him from 11am to 5pm and may opt to take photos available for purchase through Wilkerson Photography.

As in years past, the District's open house is a time for the public to see all that Bluff View has to offer, from the cultural arts to the culinary arts. In addition to its three restaurants, Bluff View Inn, River Gallery and River Gallery Sculpture Garden, the Bluff View Bakery and Rembrandt's Roasting Company will be open to the public for brief tours and general questions for its artisan bakers and master roasters, respectively. Samples of freshly baked breads and premium roasted coffees will be on hand.

Each of the District's award-winning restaurants will have demonstrations, samples and activities for the entire family to enjoy. Rembrandt's Coffee House will host a children's booth for holiday cookie decorating and letter writing to Santa himself. They will also be selling their sought-after holiday gift boxes for a 10% discount on the day of open house only. Tony's Pasta Shop & Trattoria will demonstrate how it makes its own fresh pasta for its signature dishes and will have samples of their world-famous cheese bread. Back Inn Café, typically a dinner service fine dining establishment, will open its doors during the day for seasonal wine flights and full bar offerings. They will resume full dinner service at 5pm.

The first floor of the main guest house of Bluff View Inn, the Maclellan House, will be open to the public for touring. Visitors are invited to stop into the mansion's parlor to sample hot tea and cookies baked fresh by the District's own pastry chefs. The lounge inside the Martin Mansion, which also houses the Back Inn Café and three additional bed and breakfast suites, is where guests may visit personally with the District's event coordinator as well as sample selected menu items from its event and catering chefs.

Guaranteed to be fun for all ages, the Bluff View Art District's open house is a treat for the whole family.