Memberfest – Preservation of Historic Winchester

Happy Halloween!

It’s our last Harvest at the Hexagon House event tonight, 4-6 PM! Grab your costumes and come for one last visit to the Hexagon House in “Fall Mode.” “More Doors of Historic Winchester” posters are available, as well as membership renewal swag items. Trick or treaters can grab candy and explore the first floor of the Hexagon House.

Starting October 30, we’ll be taking the next two weeks to put away fall and transform the Hexagon House into the Bough and Dough Shop. Keep your eyes on our Instagram account to watch our progress and get a sneak peek at the arrivals from our local artisan vendors. We’ll be transformed into holiday mode for the opening of the Shop on November 17!

Hang Out at the Hexagon House

Tonight, Friday the 13th, is our second Harvest at the Hexagon House event, 4-6 PM. Stop by 530 Amherst St. to renew your membership and grab some swag, or pick up a copy or two of “More Doors of Historic Winchester.” Our theme this week is a relaxed hangout – we’ll be in our comfy PHW t-shirts and have some soothing background music going. (Men with hockey masks are politely requested to leave their machetes at home.)

We had a couple people inquire about payment methods. We are able to accept cash, checks, credit/debit cards, and also PayPal/Venmo. For those who remember last year’s Shop, we have a new card reader and tap and chip payments are back. If you’d like to come prepared with cash, the amount per Doors poster with tax is $15.80. Don’t worry, we can also make change – we got our Shop moneybox ready early this year!

Happy Harvest!

Our first Harvest at the Hexagon House is taking place tonight, 4-6 PM at the Hexagon House, 530 Amherst St. The event is free to attend and open to anyone interested. We encourage those who are up for membership renewal to drop by in person and choose a thank you gift from our selection of items when renewing their membership. And of course, the main draw for tonight’s event is the official launch of the “More Doors of Historic Winchester” poster.

We know a few out of town readers have requested a copy, so to coincide with our launch party, a limited number of posters are available on our online store. We ask that local shoppers refrain from purchasing these copies and instead visit us at the in-person events.

We hope to see many of you over the coming Fridays in October!

Dogwood berries in bright red at the Laidlaw Amphitheater.

Friday Roundup: Door a Day October

October is almost here, and that means it’s almost time for our official launch of the “More Doors of Historic Winchester” poster! To celebrate, PHW’s social media for October (and a little bit of November) will feature a door a day from the poster. You can follow along on Facebook, Twitter, or Mastodon to see the individual photographs used in the creation of the poster.

October also means we start our Harvest at the Hexagon House membership renewal event. We hope to see many of you at the Hexagon House, 530 Amherst St., between 4-6 PM each Friday in October, either to renew your membership to PHW or to pick up a copy of “More Doors of Historic Winchester.” Our first event is next Friday, October 6. Join us for a relaxed fall party for your first chance to buy a “More Doors of Historic Winchester” poster signed by the photographers. Light refreshments will be available.

For renewals or new membership dues paid at the event, you can pick one item from a table of thank you gifts of books, pins, note cards, and art prints, while supplies last. Dues or poster sales may be made in cash, checks, or credit/debit cards.

We’re ready for Harvest at the Hexagon House!

Friday Roundup: Harvest at the Hexagon and Bough & Dough Shop Artists

We’re excited to bring back a classic PHW event of yesteryear in a new format! Visit the PHW Office at 530 Amherst St. Friday afternoons in October to join or renew your membership and receive a thank you gift for free! Items include pins, small posters, books, and more—while supplies last!

Our first Friday event will also feature the public launch party of “More Doors of Winchester” poster sales. Stop by to pick up your copy for $15 plus tax. The photographers will be on hand if you’d like your copy signed!

Mark your calendars for October 6, October 13, October 20, and October 27 between 4-6 PM at the Hexagon House, 530 Amherst St. for four afternoons of fall fun!

We are also pleased to announce our selection of artists for the 2023 Bough & Dough Shop:

Angel’s Roost Quilts
Blooming Hill Lavender Farm and Gift Shop
Nina Burke
Lorraine Candell
Capers in Crochet
The Card Shop Bakers
George Davis
Double D’s Bees
Eye of the Needle Embroidery
Gustafson Glass
Hailewatercolors
Heathen Works
Dave Hickman
J&W Farm
Susan Keenan
Lighthouse Woodworking
The Merry Beader
Ornamentally Creative
Libba Pendleton
Very Merry Mittens
Waterlilly

The Shop this year will be held Wednesdays-Sundays at the Hexagon House, November 17-December 10, 10 AM-5 PM. To coincide with some other holiday events happening in Winchester, the Bough & Dough Shop is rolling with a theme of an old fashioned general store this year. We hope to have fantastic products as well as a fun visual experience for shoppers. We’re also excited to test out our Laidlaw Amphitheater space for our greenery and wreath sales – hopefully there will be a little less bending down to pick your boughs this year. Look for more information as we move into November!

Friday Photos: Scenes from a Speakeasy

Just one week ago, PHW put together a speakeasy-themed Memberfest celebration. The event was a huge success, with over 70 guests in attendance at various points in the evening. Thank you to our hosts at Below the Fringe for the perfect speakeasy location, The Bob Larson Trio for the evening of jazz, and the crew from the Winchester Little Theatre who helped with check ins and performed the readings.

If you missed the fun, enjoy a few images of the event on Flickr.

The Speakeasy Is Tonight! Here’s What You Need to Know.

Time: 6-10 PM

Place: 137 South Loudoun Street. Look for the fence with the PHW banner. The speakeasy will be held in the basement of this building.

Parking: The Palace and Hable lots off Indian Alley and the Cork Street lot at the corner of Cork and Loudoun Streets are the closest public parking lots to the event venue. These lots are FREE to park in after 6 PM. Map of downtown parking lots.

Admission: There will be an outdoor admission table with staff for check ins. If your PHW membership dues are current, you need only give your name (or your business name, if you are a small business/corporate member) to be checked in.
If you need to pay dues:
You may pay your dues on PayPal prior to coming to the event. Bring your receipt from PayPal as proof of purchase for any renewals made today. We will NOT have access to PayPal to verify your purchase at the event venue.
We will be accepting cash or checks only at the door tonight. Exact change is preferred!

Event Capacity: There is room for approximately 50 attendees inside the event. Please feel free to leave the event for a time and have dinner or walk around the downtown.

Entertainment: The Bob Larson Trio will play between 7-10 PM. The stories of Winchester’s time as a dry town will be read in two sections, one at 8 PM and one at 9 PM.

Silent Auction Items: In addition to the three prints (framed Ruth’s Tea Room, 1968 by Jane Caspar, framed George Washington’s Office by Eugene B. Smith, and Winchester Celebrates signed artist proof by Don Black), there will also be four gift baskets, with 1920s themed goodies and snacks, custom items with our attractive flapper poster girl from the event advertising, a Winchester: Limestone, Sycamores & Architecture book, Holiday House Tour Preview Party tickets, and more! You need not be present at the end of the evening for your high bid to win.

Please note: The PHW office will be closing around 4 PM on Friday to begin the event setup. We will not be available to answer emails or phone calls after this time.

PHW’s Silent Auction Items at Memberfest

PHW is pleased to bring you a preview of some of the items which will be available at the silent auction on October 23 as part of PHW’s Memberfest.

A framed Ruth’s Tea Room, 1968 print by Jane Caspar, 41/50

A Eugene B. Smith print of George Washington’s Office

A signed artist’s proof 5/20 of Winchester Celebrates by Don Black, 1996

As well as several themed gift baskets for 1920s Christmas gifts and architectural goodies from PHW.

Please note we had reported incorrectly last week the items at Memberfest would be raffled; all items will be sold at silent auction.

More Information on PHW’s Speakeasy Memberfest, Oct. 23

As we draw closer to the event, we have a few more tidbits of information to pass on:

RSVPs and Admission Questions:
There are no tickets being sold to this event. RSVPs to the PHW office, 540-667-3577 or phwi@verizon.net, are appreciated but not required. Current PHW member names will be on a guest list at the entrance – your name is your password.

For new or renewing members, there is a membership information card to fill out so that you can be added to our membership roster (includes a receipt which doubles as your PHW membership card). We also strongly recommend exact cash or checks (made out to PHW) for your payment methods.

For this reason, we strongly suggest you renew or join PHW prior to the night of Memberfest to help you enter the event as quickly as possible. Join now via PayPal, or click here for a copy of our membership form to mail in with a check.

Entertainment:
The Bob Larson Trio will play 1920s and 1930s jazz from 7-10 PM. During the intermissions, volunteers from Winchester Little Theatre will share stories from Winchester’s time as a “dry” town. A tips jar for Winchester Little Theatre to benefit their Restoration Campaign will be available as a thank you to their support of PHW at this event.

Silent Auction Items:
We are happy to report that, similar to the Memberfest held at EBS Gallery, we will have several gift baskets and other interesting items up for silent auction. The silent auction proceeds will benefit PHW.

One of the items in the auction is a framed print of Ruth’s Tea Room on East Cecil Street. This high quality print of Jane Caspar’s painting of Ruth’s Tea Room, 1968 is reproduced from the original oil painting on fiberboard. The print measures 13 x 17 with a white border, at the bottom of which is printed:

Ruth’s Tea Room, 1968
128 E. Cecil Street
Winchester, Virginia
Oil on fiberboard by Jane Caspar

The prints are part of a fundraiser to support Vivienne Jackson’s ongoing living expenses. If you are not lucky enough to win the framed print at Memberfest, prints are available at Jim Riley’s office, 121 S. Loudoun St.
Unsigned print: $45 (+$5.00 S&H)
Signed print (limited to 50): $90 (+$5.00 S&H)
If you wish to pay more for the print, all the extra goes to Vivienne.

Questions?
Please feel free to contact PHW at 540-667-3577 if you have questions not covered here.