PORT TOWNSEND — When Nathan Barnett and Cindy Madsen took over management of the Port Townsend Victorian Festival four years ago, they said they sought to inject some raw-edged realism into an event that had a stodgy reputation as a place for “pinky-out tea drinkers.”
After this year’s festival, they plan to move on and make way for someone else to take over the 20-year-old celebration.
“We have done most of the stuff we set out to do,” Barnett said.
“We wanted to add maritime and military elements and reflect the rough-and-tumble downtown.”
The festival will be Friday through Sunday, March 20, in and around locations in downtown and uptown Port Townsend.
Ticket prices vary. Early bird tickets admitting the holder to festival lectures, demonstrations and exhibitions is $15, with those 18 and younger and students with school ID admitted free.
Teas, tours, the ball, the contra dance and museum admission are extra.
Never prissy
Port Townsend was never a prissy place, Barnett said.
“At some point, the Victorian era was characterized as a time of entitlement, where people who had fancy clothes and fancy houses did fancy things,” Barnett said.
“There was never any aristocracy here. The founding fathers of Port Townsend dragged themselves through the mud and built huts in the wilderness.”
Striking a balance between the two extremes, Barnett and Madsen kept the teas and the tours and the costumes intact while adding elements of the slightly dangerous place they said 19th-century Port Townsend really was.
Activities this year
This year’s festival includes a pub crawl, Victorian High Teas, a fashion show, historical walking tours and a fancy ball followed by a contra dance beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday at the American Legion Hall, 209 Monroe St.
This double event is Madsen’s favorite part of the festival.
“The people at the ball wear fancy clothes and do the period dances,” she said.
“At 9 o’clock, a different clientele comes in for the contra dance, and it becomes an amazing mixture: people who are barefoot and in short pants kicking up their heels alongside people in hoop skirts.”
Several children’s events have been added. They will be in Pope Marine Park.
The festival hasn’t lost its shine for Barnett and Madsen.
They expect to stay involved in future events, although not in charge.
They simply had too much to do.
Their company, Olympic Peninsula Steam, sponsors the Brass Screw Confederacy, a steampunk gathering in its fifth year taking place June 10-12, along with the Haunted Bordello Halloween and a 19th-century-flavored yuletide celebration.
Madsen will become the co-chair of the Port Townsend Rotary on April 23, and the couple put in 16-hour days as managers of the Old Consulate Inn bed-and-breakfast.
“We never got a break,” Barnett said.
“We always tried to take a week off in February but were interrupted by the planning for the Victorian Festival.”
During this time, at least one person a day comes up to him and asks about the upcoming steampunk festival.
“I tell them to ask me on March 22,” he said, after the Victorian Festival is over.
“We may be clearing our plates so we can do some other really cool things.”
Madsen said the couple “is not bailing.”
“The Victorian Festival says a lot about Port Townsend,” Madsen said. “It’s a really important part of our history and culture.”
Barnett expects that about 150 people coming from California, Canada and Seattle will buy tickets for the festival, with another 60 people volunteering in some capacity.
He is still seeking volunteers, people who can help with seating, ticket taking or “just helping people get around.
Those interested in volunteering should email info@op-s.net.
For more information or to purchase tickets, go to www.vicfest.org.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
