Peninsula Daily News
PORT TOWNSEND — Historic homes, fashion shows, tours and the human relationships with whales are among the myriad events planned during Victoria Heritage Days this weekend.
The 2011 Victorian Heritage Days in Port Townsend, set for Friday through Sunday, will “showcase how old homes can be adapted to modern expectations of comfort and convenience without compromising their historic look and feel, how whales were and are a part of our lives in the Pacific Northwest, and social events like teas and a dance that bring people together,” said the event’s website, www.victorian festival.org/2011.
The care of vintage houses will be addressed in two seminars at the Seminar Building at Fort Worden State Park. The cost for each is $10 for adults and $5 for youths.
Presenting the information will be Kevin Palo, a visiting instructor at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking and a consultant on restoration, rejuvenation and preservation.
“Understanding Old Houses” will guide participants through the process of looking at old houses to find the stories they tell about their original construction and their current needs.
It is planned at 12:30 p.m. Friday and at 2 p.m. Saturday.
“Weatherizing an Old Home” will be at 2 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday.
Port Townsend Realtors will have homes of historical significance open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
The self-guided tour is free. A map identifying these homes will be available at the Victorian Heritage ticket office at 2360 E. Sims Way and on the website.
At the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, which is in Fort Worden State Park, visitors will see “how our dependence on and attitudes towards whales have changed over time” through looking at products made from whales in years past and learning about present issues involving whales, the group said.
Short guided tours are planned at 11 a.m. Friday and at 12:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
The cost is included with the price of admission to the museum: Adults get in for $3 and youths for $1.
Four fashion shows are planned.
The Victorian Fashion Show will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at First Presbyterian Church, 111 Franklin St.
Donations to the Jefferson County Historical Society Scholarship Fund will be accepted at the door.
For more information about the scholarship fund, phone JoAnn Bussa at 360-301-3628.
The other three shows will be at the Port Townsend City Hall council chambers.
The cost for each show will be $7 for adults and $5 for youths.
In “A Victorian Lady’s Winter Dressing Sequence,” Sarah Chrisman will model what Victorian women wore underneath all those clothes at 3:30 p.m. Friday.
Men’s clothing was often more complicated than that worn by women in Victorian times.
In “A Victorian Gentleman’s Dressing Sequence,” Gabriel Chrisman will don an authentic 19th-century outfit, layer by layer, beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday.
The relationship between Victorian posture and clothing will be explored in “Heads Held High” at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
A hand-quilting demonstration is planned on the second floor of Vintage Hardware, 2000 Sims Way, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day from Friday through Sunday.
Admission is free.
Four social events of the weekend are a Victorian Family Social, Victorian Teas, Victorian Parlor Games and an Equinox Dance.
The free Victorian Family Social, presented by Jefferson Community School on Friday at 280 Quincy St., will feature family parlor games popular in Victorian times.
The hourlong social will begin at 7 p.m., with an open house preceding it from 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Jefferson Community School students also will lead parlor games for children Saturday.
Victorian Parlor Games for Kids will be at 9:30 a.m. at 280 Quincy St. It is free.
Victorian Teas are four-course events consisting of a fruit or compote dish, followed by assorted tea sandwiches, scones and jam, and a variety of desserts.
They will be at 4 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday and will be served in historic buildings operating as bed-and-breakfast inns.
Advance tickets, which cost $25, are required for the teas. The locations will be provided when tickets are purchased.
On Saturday night, the Northwest Chapter of the Victorian Society in America will host “Equinox Dance: Hands Across the Centuries” at the JFK building at Fort Worden State Park.
Kristin and Otto Smith and Paula Lalish of the Uptown Cotillion Orchestra will play dancing music on concertina, fiddle and harp.
Selections will include waltzes, marches and foxtrots, as well as quadrilles, mazurkas, hully-gullies and gavottes.
Dress can be from the present or sometime in the past.
“All centuries are welcome, formal and informal,” the group said.
The doors will open at 7 p.m. for practice and instruction. Live music will be played from 8 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Admission will be $15 for adults, $8 for those younger than 18.
Bus and walking tours will be guided by Jefferson Historical Society docents, who will share information on the history and present use of historic buildings of Port Townsend.
Downtown tours, uptown tours and bus tours in handicapped-accessible vans made available by Seaport Landing and Discovery View retirement apartments are scheduled. Each tour costs $10.
The downtown walking tours will leave from the corner of Madison and Washington streets at 11 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday.
The downtown tours will describe the waterfront commercial district’s rowdy past and explore some of the transitions to present use.
The uptown walking tours will leave from the Rothschild House at the corner of Franklin and Taylor streets at 2 p.m. Saturday and 12:30 p.m. Sunday.
They will feature the fine homes and churches of the residential district.
The bus tours will leave from the corner of Madison and Washington streets at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Friday and at 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
Tour-goers will hear about the history and construction of the Jefferson County Courthouse; the historic Customs House, which now houses the post office; and dozens of other Victorian buildings scattered throughout Port Townsend.
Museums will be open all three days. These include the Coast Artillery Museum, the Commanding Officer’s Quarters and the Marine Science Center at Fort Worden and the Jefferson County Historical Society Museum, the Rothschild House and the Kelly Art Deco Light Museum in Port Townsend.
For more information, visit the festival website, phone 360-379-1954, e-mail Kathy Liu at vic.soc.nw@gmail.com or phone the Northwest Chapter of the Victorian Society in America at 360-379-2847.