The Camden Garden Club (CGC) will hold its 74th Annual Garden and House Tour on Thursday, July 21, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., rain or shine. Private homes on the tour include two interiors and four “spectacular” gardens, according to CGC, in a news release.

The event, long a mainstay of Camden’s summer season for residents and visitors alike, celebrates living at its best on the coast of Maine.

“We love welcoming friends old and new to Camden every summer,” says Lucy Ebbert, CGC president, in the release. “Each year, we search high and low for examples of beauty both indoors and outdoors. This year, we believe we have once again created an experience that will be interesting and fun for everyone.”

The Club’s seven Master Gardeners will be on hand in each garden to answer questions about landscaping and design.

In addition to the private homes, the event will also include the historic Conway House, its colonial garden and other period buildings, and special morning and afternoon tours of the Camden Public Library’s historic amphitheater and Harbor Park.

Rockport artist Holly Smith will paint a plein air scene in one of the tour’s gardens, and raffle tickets will be sold to tour participants to benefit the Club’s scholarship fund. Tour stops will also include display of British and European sports cars by members of the Mid Maine Sports Car Club. The Village Soup food truck will be parked behind the Camden Public Library on Atlantic Avenue for hungry tour participants.

The annual Garden and House Tour provides funding for CGC’s civic projects, including the including lighted wreaths and hanging baskets on Camden’s downtown lampposts, maintenance of the Village Green, Laite Beach landscaping, flower boxes on the Union Street arch and the Main Street bridge, street trees and winter horticulture programs.

Tickets can be purchased for $40 online from camdengardenclub.org and picked up on the day of the tour at Tour Headquarters on the Camden Public Landing. They are also on sale now at retail locations on the Midcoast from Belfast to Waldoboro. For more information, contact info@camdengardenclub.org.