PORT ANGELES — Civil War re-enactors from across Western Washington will be some of the new faces at the Port Angeles Downtown Association’s 11th annual Heritage Days this weekend.
Heritage Days, which this year celebrates Port Angeles’ 150th anniversary, will welcome Civil War re-enactors playing men and women who served in the 20th Maine Army companies roughly 150 years ago, Heritage Days Committee Chairwoman April Bellerud said.
The re-enactors will be at the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday running drills, recruiting volunteers and educating Heritage Days attendees about life during the Civil War.
Re-enactors
Every member of the 20th Maine companies represented Saturday actually lived during the Civil War, Bellerud explained, with re-enactors spending prior months researching their chosen historical figure.
The Port Angeles sesquicentennial marked the anniversary of an order signed by President Abraham Lincoln on June 19, 1862, that established the area as a town site.
While ordering a reservation for military uses and a lighthouse on Ediz Hook, Lincoln shortened a Spanish name given to the area in 1791 by Spanish explorer Francisco de Eliza.
Lincoln’s order changed Puerto de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles — Port of Our Lady of the Angels — to Port Angeles and gave a post office that had been established in 1860 a new name.
Also new this year to the Heritage Days festival will be volunteers from the Clallam County Genealogical Society, who will be on hand at Captain T’s/The Beanery, 114 and 116 E. Front St., both Saturday and Sunday providing free research help and aiding attendees in building their family trees, Bellerud said.
Volunteers from the society will be there 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
“Bring a name, a date, a place or anything you have, and they’ll help you,” Bellerud said.
Heritage Days will still feature festival favorites, such as the county courthouse clock tower tours Saturday and the Below the Street Fair and Kids’ Carnival from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Fair, carnival
The fair and carnival will take place in the parking lot between Zak’s and Coog’s Budget CDs on Front Street.
Bellerud said she plans to make the clock tower tours a priority this year, since responsibilities with the festival have kept her from taking it the past three years she’s been head of the fair committee.
“That’s always the problem,” Bellerud said.
“When you’re working the festival, you don’t always get to take advantage of the tours.”
Bellerud said the goal of Heritage Days is to get people to celebrate their own history, even if it has nothing to do with Port Angeles or Clallam County.
She urged all attendees to dress in period clothing from any era, not just limited to 150 years ago.
“We’re really trying to encourage people to celebrate yourself, celebrate your heritage, your time frame, and not just adopt someone else’s,” Bellerud said.
“It always makes it that much more fun.”
Harbor tour tonight
The festivities start tonight with a Heritage Harbor Tour hosted by Expeditions Northwest.
Kathy Monds, executive director of the Clallam County Historical Society, will share the history of the Port Angeles Harbor area during the tour.
The cruise runs from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., and tickets are $25.
For more information, phone 360-452-6210.
The central point for this weekend’s Heritage Days will be the Museum at the Carnegie, 207 S. Lincoln St., Bellerud said. ‘
There, volunteers will be selling tickets for most events and passing out schedules.
Here is a schedule of events for Saturday and Sunday:
Saturday
■ Below the Street Fair and Kids’ Carnival — 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., parking lot between Zak’s and Coog’s Budget CDs on Front Street.
■ Clallam County Genealogical Society — 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Captain T’s/The Beanery, 114 and 116 E. Front St.
■ 20th Maine Civil War re-enactors — 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Clallam County Courthouse.
■ West-side bus tours of historic homes — 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Tickets are $12 and are available at the Museum at the Carnegie.
Tours begin and end in front of the museum.
■ Clallam County Courthouse clock tour — 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., by donation. The tours will leave from the front door of the old courthouse.
■ Celebration of Clallam County schools — 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., sponsored by the Clallam County Historical Society at the site of the former Lincoln School at 926 W. Eighth St., corner of Eighth and C streets, in conjunction with Heritage Days.
■ Ice-cream social — 4 p.m., Veterans Park, between the Museum at the Carnegie and Clallam County Courthouse on Lincoln Street. Ice cream to be sold for 10 cents by the Daughters of the American Revolution of Clallam County.
■ Steam Ball featuring Abney Park — Doors open at 7 p.m., show starts at 9 p.m. at the Masonic Lodge, 622 S. Lincoln St.
Tickets are $20 in advance and $30 at the door if any are left.
Advance tickets are sold at Anime Kat, 110 W. First St.; Odyssey Bookshop, 114 W. Front St.; and Twisted Mischief, 108 E. First St.
Sunday
■ Below the Street Fair and Kids’ Carnival — 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., parking lot between Zak’s and Coog’s Budget CDs on Front Street.
■ Clallam County Genealogical Society — 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Captain T’s/The Beanery, 114 and 116 E. Front St.
■ Heritage Underground Tours — Hourly tours of downtown Port Angeles with costumed tour guides. For details, visit http://bit.ly/RK1ufv.
■ East-side bus tours of historic homes — 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Tickets are $12 and on sale at the Museum at the Carnegie. Tours begin and end in front of the museum.
■ Clallam County Courthouse clock tour — 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., by donation. Tours leave from the front door of the old courthouse.
■ Unleashing the Elwha: A Year Later Cruise — 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., sponsored by Expeditions Northwest. Tickets are $45.
Reservations can be made by phoning 360-452-6210.
Both days, the free Great Lauridsen Dollar Chase will be at various downtown locations. People can enter to win Downtown Dollars.
For more information, visit http://tinyurl.com/967lgq4.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
