It’s been a busy week at PHW as we shift into Holiday House Tour mode for the last part of the year. Many thanks to all the artists, new and returning, who will help us create the Bough & Dough Shop in November. We will be announcing the artists next week – we think you will find your old favorites as well as some fun new items. (Spoiler alert: we have some awesome ornaments in the selection this year!)
Hand in hand with our artist line up, we are now working on our Holiday House Tour sponsorships. As you may know, since 2013 we have produced a program booklet to accompany the house tour. We use these funds to cover most of the event expenses (like printing, postage, and homeowner decorating reimbursements) through the advertising sponsorships, and we hope the business community will continue their support this year. You can find the ad size and price sheet and the form to return to PHW. The deadline to turn in your ad for the program booklet is Friday, October 28.
Looking for something to do this weekend? You may be interested in the Patsy Cline Block Party, which this year will mark what would have been her 90th birthday. The event starts at 10 AM on Saturday, September 3 in front of her childhood home, 608 S. Kent St. Find more information on the event at Facebook. Follow up the block party with the Mandy Barnett Benefit Concert for the Patsy Cline Historic House at 7:30 PM. Celebrating Patsy Cline is collaborating with Patsy Cline Enterprises and Patsy’s Nashville family to present a first-ever tribute concert in the Patsy Cline Theater at John Handley High School to benefit the Patsy Cline Historic House. Find more information on Facebook.
The PHW Office will be closed on Monday, September 5 for Labor Day. We’ll see you again on Tuesday!
The PHW Office will be closed on Monday, September 6 for the holiday. We’ll be back on Tuesday!
We’ve had a few questions pertaining to our Holiday House Tour and Bough & Dough Shop calls for help. For our paper bag donation request, we are looking for all sizes of bags, from small gift bags/sandwich bag up to full size paper grocery bags. Any donations are welcome, and can be left in a bin on the back porch of the Hexagon House at any time. For volunteering obligations as a Holiday House Tour docent, plan to have a shift of about two hours during the Sunday tour. You may also have around half an hour to forty-five minutes of script training and house walkthroughs before the event. Docents are NOT expected to memorize scripts. If you have other questions, just let us know!
The Patsy Cline Block Party returns this Saturday, September 4, in the 600 block of South Kent Street! The event takes place between 10 AM and 4 PM. Come out to celebrate Patsy’s life and music, the designation of the Patsy Cline House as a National Historic Landmark, and the tenth anniversary of the event. The block party is free to attend, but house tours, which will begin at 11:30 AM, will cost $5.
The Comprehensive Plan Update open house and public hearing was held August 31. If you couldn’t attend in person, you can still get up to speed before submitting your feedback through the upcoming online form by reviewing the Comp Plan Update materials and watching the presentation and public hearing online. Stop by Rouss City Hall during regular business hours (main floor-Level 2F) to view the open house exhibits through September 14.
The ghost sign on the Fairfax Lane side of 300 N. Kent, where Melvin Lewis operated a grocery store from about 1936-1962.
As part of our ongoing image captioning project on our social media, the ghost sign for the E. N. Hardy Grocery Store at 300-302 North Kent Street came up in the queue this week. When we spotted the ghost sign and took a quick picture of it in the spring, we didn’t get time to research it. The photo caption project provided the perfect chance to look through the copies of the city directories we have here at the PHW office. Sure enough, we came across one directory entry in 1929 for the 302 N. Kent half of the duplex as the location for E. N. Hardy, grocer. His business appears to have been short-lived, as the 302 side of the building was constructed around 1927, and it was changed to residential use by the time of the 1936 city directory. The grocery business instead moved to the 300 N. Kent half and was operated by Melvin Lewis until about 1962. Thanks to Linda Fiddler for providing her memories of going to the store every day, Stephen Brown for providing the information Melvin and his wife Ruth lived on Woodland Avenue and she worked for Judge Henry Whiting, and Scott Straub for providing Melvin’s draft card confirming he was a self-employed grocer at 300 N. Kent St.
Calling all photographers! The City’s 2022 annual informational calendar photo contest is now open. Click here for the free to enter online submission form. The deadline to submit up to five qualifying photos is November 1, 2021.
We are always surprised to find more photos lurking in our program file folders to scan. This week, we uncovered a sampling of products from Arise Studio, which set up a mobile shop in December 1990 as part of a fundraiser for the Kurtz Cultural Center. The timing of the find was fortuitous, as the fundraiser helped the dedicated Patsy Cline display go into the first floor visitor’s center and gift shop area of the building. Take a peek at the five photos at the top of our photostream, and jog your memory of the display with the photo below!
The Patsy Cline memorial display case in the Kurtz Cultural Center, during a program for the “James Wood and the Founding of Winchester” exhibit, 1994.
We had a fantastic time at the open house last Saturday. If you couldn’t make it, you missed a chill afternoon full of art, food, and creativity. Don’t worry, though! You will get to enjoy the fruits of these labors (plus our upstairs neighbors ShenArts) starting in late November at the Bough and Dough Shop. If you haven’t yet, you can pick up an informational packet with an application form here.
Do you enjoy transcription of historic documents? The Library of Virginia has made the records of the Equal Suffrage League available for transcription. As part of the 2020 commemoration of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment guaranteeing women’s right to vote, the Library is asking volunteers to help transcribe these records that document women’s campaign for the vote in Virginia. You can learn more at their blog, Out of the Box.
September in Winchester always conjures up Patsy Cline. Get your fix tomorrow with the Patsy Cline Block Party. The annual event will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. August 31, 2019 in front of the Patsy Cline Historic House, 608 S. Kent St., Winchester. It is an old-fashioned style block party with live entertainment, food concessions by Shaffer’s BBQ and souvenirs staged on Kent St. between Monmouth and Germain streets. The block party is free to attend with tours of the historic house offered at the reduced price of $5 for the day. Four performances by returning and new entertainers includes tribute singers performing Patsy songs, singer-storyteller, and groups performing songs of her genre.
“From Disaster to Redemption: George Washington and the Making of Winchester” will be held September 15.
“From Disaster to Redemption: George Washington and the Making of Winchester” will be held Sunday, September 15 at the George Washington Hotel, beginning at 1:30 PM. This free presentation will be a lovely celebration in a lovely place, with a dynamic speaker, Dr. Carl Ekberg. Join the French and Indian War foundation and the Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society for this 275th anniversary of the founding of Winchester event. Everyone is welcome! More information is available on the French and Indian War Foundation’s website.
Last, PHW will be closed on Monday, September 2 for Labor Day. Enjoy your long weekend as you say goodbye to summer!
Tonight, March 15, is the John Kirby Tribute Concert at Westminster-Canterbury. The concert will celebrate this Winchester-born jazzman who played a significant role developing “classical jazz” in the 1930s and 40s. Bob Larson, Chair of Jazz Studies at Shenandoah University’s Conservatory, will lead a jazz sextet recreating John Kirby’s “Onyx Club Band,” with an appreciation by Alan Williams, grandson of John Kirby. The event is open to the public, $10/person admission at the door. A portion of the proceeds goes to the SVWC Fellowship Fund.
The Patsy Cline Historic House will be hosting a volunteer open house day March 23 and 24. If you would like to learn more about volunteering, please join PCHH’s staff and volunteers for a special open house on Saturday, March 23 from 10am to 2pm, and Sunday, March 24 from 1pm to 4pm. Volunteers provide the vibrant spark that makes the site both educational and compelling. If you enjoy being a docent for Holiday House Tour, check out this opportunity.
The CUP for the old hospital site was tabled on Tuesday. The public hearing portion of the application is now closed, but Council has requested the applicant return with more information on how it plans to mitigate the concerns raised by neighbors and council members. Parking and the increase of traffic in the neighborhood, as well as the scale of the building, remain major concerns. The item is planned to return to City Council on March 26.
We have also added about 34 images to our Flickr account since our last update, including Revolving Fund documentary photos of Cameron Street, contact sheets of event photos connected to the Kurtz Cultural Center, and three photos connected with Miss Lucy Kurtz and her father George Kurtz. You can catch them at the top of the Flickr photostream.
While we missed Winchester’s official birthday, we hope you don’t mind a belated gift – an article from 1969 on the 225th birthday of Winchester, with a lead for finding a history written in 1944 to mark the 200th anniversary by William Wood Glass. A number of his surveys on historic sites around Winchester can be found online at the Library of Virginia.
Happy Friday! There is a lot to cover this holiday weekend. First, the Celebrating Patsy Cline Block Party will be held Saturday, September 2 in front of the Patsy Cline House at 608 S. Kent St. The block party is free but tours of the house are $5. A special exhibit will be presented of an item that has not been on display before at the house. Attendees are asked to bring chairs to the event. For more information, call 540-662-5555 or visit their website.
For Friday Photos this week, we found some reference photos for the house art from Holiday House Tour 2003 and 2004. The houses are primarily on North Braddock Street, Washington Street, and Stewart Street. Check out the the 23 photos at the top of our Flickr photostream.
From the National Trust comes the August and early September outlook for the Historic Tax Credit. There is information in the blog post about how to add your business or organization to a letter of support for the historic tax credit, how to check if your representative is a cosponsor for the Historic Tax Credit Improvement Act, and information on how to sign up for a webinar on the historic tax credit September 21 at 2 p.m.
From CityLab comes the article An Architectural Rescue Gone Wrong by Mark Byrnes. In short, it is a familiar story on the struggles of preserving the recent past for “ugly” buildings that don’t seem to mesh well with a “traditional” city. In an even more familiar refrain, in trying to please everyone, it seems no one is completely satisfied with the efforts to save Paul Rudolph’s Brutalist-style Orange County Government Center after decades of deferred maintenance and hurricane-related damage.
Here’s what’s happening this Friday-Sunday for the Patsy Cline Music Festival here in Winchester:
September 4th (Friday) — At the Apple Blossom Mall…Vocal performances by Fleming, Fleming and Peterson and other singers. Other activities will take place at no cost. This is an acoustic trio made up of Karen Fleming, Mike Fleming and Chuck Peterson. Activities start at 6:30 PM.
September 5th (Saturday) — A free block party will be held Sept. 5 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in front of the Patsy Cline Historic House, 608 S. Kent St. There will be entertainment including the The Evans Sister from central Pennsylvania, vendors including Greenwood Grocery and Deli, and tours of the house at a reduced cost of $5. DJ for the day is Hampton Thomas of Special Occasions Entertainment.
September 5th (Saturday) — A rock ‘n’ roll dance will be held from 7 to 11 p.m. Sept. 5 at Best Western Lee-Jackson with the Robbie Limon Band playing. Cost is $15 for single and $25 a couple with hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar.
September 6th (Sunday) — A Rockin’ in the Park Concert will be held from 4 to 8:30 Sept. 6 at Bridgeforth Field in Jim Barnett Park with music by the Drifters, and Bill Haley’s Comets. The opening band will be the Texas Chainsaw Horns. A free car show will be held before the concert, and food vendor Jordan Springs Market will sell food. General admission is $18 in advance and $22 after Aug. 25. Reserved seats are $20 in advance and $30 after Aug. 25.
One hundred percent of the proceeds from the festival events will be used for continuous operation of the house to honor our native singer, Patsy Cline. Please join in celebrating her legacy with these events to honor her musical career.
Make sure to get your tickets for the dance and the concert in the park! Tickets are available at the house located at 608 S. Kent St., Winchester-Frederick County Visitor Center, 1400 S. Pleasant Valley Road or at G&M Music, 2640 Valley Ave.
Celebrating Patsy Cline is nearing the completion of its vision to open Patsy Cline’s home of South Kent Street as a house museum on Tuesday. The tour includes the living room, dining room, a bedroom, and kitchen. The docent-guided tours will take about 35 to 45 minutes. The home is furnished with authentic memorabilia and period pieces, reflecting Patsy Cline’s life from 1948 to 1957 when she called 608 South Kent Street home.
Don’t forget to mark your calendars for a special ceremony on September 3 to commemorate the opening of the house, coinciding with the annual visit of the Always Patsy Cline Fan Club to Winchester.
Hours through Oct. 31 are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Cost is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors 65 and older, $4 for ages 11 to 18, and free for military and ages 10 and under.
Celebrating Patsy Cline, Inc. (CPC) announces the opening of a new Patsy Cline exhibit at the Winchester-Frederick County Visitor Center, 1400 S. Pleasant Valley Road, Winchester, VA, beginning Saturday, April 9, 2011.
This special display was made possible by Ann Denkler, Professor of History at Shenandoah University. “These are exciting times for our organization,” notes Judy Sue Huyett-Kempf, Executive Director, Patsy Cline Historic House, as renovations are underway at 608 S. Kent Street. “This showcase of Patsy Cline items has never been viewed by the public and builds excitement for the anticipated opening of the Historic House.”
The exhibit is comprised of some original personal documents and collections mixed with reproductions of items belonging to Patsy Cline. The special exhibit will remain on display until the official opening of the Patsy Cline Historic House.
The following is press release from the Board of Celebrating Patsy Cline:
As supporters of Celebrating Patsy Cline, Inc and our efforts to restore 608 South Kent Street, it is with great pleasure to take this opportunity to inform you that our dream is now a reality. On the front porch of her historic house this Friday, January 21, 2011 at 11:00 am, Celebrating Patsy Cline, Inc will be announcing to the world that renovations will begin at Patsy Cline’s Historic House located in her hometown, Winchester, Virginia with anticipated opening to the public in late spring of 2011. January 21 marks the anniversary of Patsy winning the Arthur Godfrey talent show in New York City in 1957 by singing “Walkin’ After Midnight. This talent contest launched her world-famed career, and at this time she was living in this house with her mother and siblings. Celebrating Patsy Cline will publish a new Facebook Page dedicated to Patsy Cline’s Historic House immediately following the Press Conference. Fans can follow the progress of the restoration and watch for news of the opening event. Patsy Cline’s Historic House: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Patsy-Clines-Historic-House We hope you can join us in making this long-awaited announcement. Thank you for your continued support.
Celebrating Patsy Cline will commemorate the 78th birthday of the legendary singer with a block party on Saturday, September 4, from 10 AM to 6 PM. Activities will take place outside the Cline home at 608 S. Kent St., rain or shine.
The event is free and open to the public. Donations will be accepted to aid in the restoration of the home.
