PORT TOWNSEND — The annual conference of the Washington Museum Association is being held in Port Townsend this year, and it begins today.
Museum professionals from across the state will meet during the three-day conference, “Authenticity: Real Things, Real Stories, Real Places,” at Fort Worden State Park.
Breakout sessions and tours are open to members of the public who have registered.
Registration is from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. Thursday at Building 204 at Fort Worden.
The cost of the full conference is $120 for Washington Museum Association members and $140 for nonmembers. For one day, the cost is $65 for association members and $75 for nonmembers.
The conference will begin with a Registrars to the Rescue project for the Jefferson County Historical Society.
The group will clean and mount a collection of rare stuffed birds at the research center at 13692 Airport Cutoff Road from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Tours today
Several tours will be offered to those registered today.
A “Military History of Fort Worden Tour” from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. is $7. Participants will meet at the Coast Artillery Museum, Building 201.
A Marrowstone Island tour is planned from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The $35 tour is limited to 17 people, who will meet the bus in front of Building 204.
A free “Historic Building Walking Tour of Downtown Port Townsend” is set from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Participants will meet at the Jefferson Museum of Art & History, 540 Water St.
A low-tide beach walk from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. is limited to 20 people. The $5 walk will begin at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center.
Tours of the Point Wilson lighthouse are planned every 15 minutes. The tours are free for conference delegates.
Open houses for those registered are planned at the Phillips House, Francis Wilcox James House, First Presbyterian Church and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church of historic places from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
On Thursday, Knute Berger, a Seattle native who wrote Space Needle, Spirit of Seattle and Pugetopolis, will be the keynote speaker from 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. at the Wheeler Theater.
Lunch, along with a silent auction, will follow from noon to 1:30 p.m. in Building 204.
Breakout sessions are planned in Building 204 from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The annual banquet, which costs $40, will be from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Northwest Maritime Center, 431 Water St.
On Friday, breakout sessions are planned both before and after a noon lunch and annual meeting of the Washington Museum Association.
For more information, visit www.washingtonstatemuseums.org.