PORT TOWNSEND — Get Victorian this weekend during Jefferson County Historical Society’s ninth annual Port Townsend Victorian Festival.
The event that draws hordes of people will showcase the Key City’s Heritage Homes and Buildings of the late 1800s.
It runs through Sunday.
Tours of several of those homes and buildings run Saturday and Sunday. This year, five homes, historical buildings and a historic seagoing vessel, MV Lotus, are featured.
A map is provided with each ticket purchased at the emporium and main festival ticket office at the new Vintage Hardware Building, 2000 W. Sims Way.
But don’t be misled: The new building is bedecked in Victorian finery, connecting Port Townsend’s future with its past.
Vintage Hardware Building, along the Highway 20 entrance into town, will be open at 10 a.m. each day of the event.
Two homes tours
Two different homes tours are offered this year, a Candlelight Dinner and Tour of Homes today, where you can experience the ambiance of a late 19th century dinner buffet reception, with costumed docents.
Meet the bus at the Gaines Place Park and Ride lot near Safeway supermarket and board for a tour of the city’s most famous houses.
Proceeds from the tours go to Jefferson County Historical Society and the Old City Hall restoration project at Water and Adams streets.
The Heritage Homes and Buildings Tour runs from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday with homes that can be visited in any order.
Fort Worden’s Commanding Officer’s Quarters, circa 1904, will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. All others are open from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. both days.
Other homes to tour are the Rothschild House, Alexander’s Castle and Point Wilson Lighthouse.
Tickets cost $14 for adults and $7 for children younger than 12.
See www.victorianfestival.org