The Northwest Colonial Festival
Hours: 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Thursday-Sunday, Aug. 10-13.
George Washington Inn, 939 Finn Hall Road, Port Angeles
Advance tickets: $12 per person through Wednesday, Aug. 9, or $25 for a four-person family pass at www.nwcolonialfestival.com. Each ticket is good for the whole weekend.
At the event, tickets are $15 for visitors 13 and up while children 12 and under are free. A family pass is $30 at the gate.
The American Revolutionary War is about to begin again this week — four times to be exact.
The third Northwest Colonial Festival runs Thursday-Sunday, Aug. 10-13, at the George Washington Inn, 939 Finn Hall Road, near Agnew.
Event director Dan Wilbanks said organizers through the George Washington Society, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, aim to increase activities, presentations, music and much more while remaining centered around interpreting the events of April 19, 1775. Daily actors recreate the “Skirmish on Lexington Green” at 10:30 a.m. and the “Battle for Concord Bridge” at 2:30 p.m.
“It’s tripled in size,” Wilbanks said of the festival.
“For being our third year and considering we started from scratch, it’s driven by a passion to share our history.”
Everyone on site is a volunteer, he said, and all ticket sales go into building the next year’s event.
Last year’s ticket sales helped pay for a 75-foot shade marquee next to the battle field, he said.
This year, Wilbanks anticipates more than 70 reenactors coming from across the Western United States compared to about 50 last year along with well-known leaders John Adams, Ben Franklin and George Washington.
The festival features the Pacific Northwest’s largest contingent of British Redcoats and Colonial Militia, he said.
“(The festival) is unique in several ways because it provides this topic in the Western U.S. where there are few venues for this type,” Wilbanks said.
“The public seems to have a renewed interest in history and there is always a brisk discussion of it. Sometimes the information is misinformation but we tell about the good and the bad that helped form America as we know her today.”
New this year
Along with the battles there will be dozens of classes, demonstrations and performances throughout the festival.
On the “Village Green” in front of the inn, volunteers will perform time-period accurate dances and music, 18th-century sword fights and more.
The Seattle area-based Columbia Fife &Drum Corps and the Southern California Colonial music group Deadmans’ Waistcoat perform a few times each day.
Organizers also have partnered with Washington State University to bring in Professors Steve Lyons and Richard Scheuerman to speak on Friday about efforts to return heritage grains dating back to 1770 to prominence in the United States including at the inn.
Wilbanks said the effort to bring back the grains has inspired a number of reenactors who will present on heritage baking using more obscure grains in the colonist village.
Along with Lyons and Scheuerman, military and Revolutionary War historian Jeff Dacus will speak on Friday and Saturday.
History education and patriotic displays will be provided by the Washington State Daughters of the American Revolution or DAR, and Sons of the American Revolution or SAR.
Karla Morgan with the DAR, said she’s creating an area for children to experience life in the 1770s with time-appropriate books, games and toys and outfits to try on so that parents can take photos.
“It gives them a vision of what it was like for a child in the colonial times,” she said.
Overall, Morgan said the festival gives a good idea “of what our founding fathers and mothers sought for a vision and goals.”
“If we can have a better understanding of that, a lot of our social problems would be less frightening,” Morgan said. “Dialogue is good. Conversation is good. The sharing of ideas is good.”
Support needed
Organizers also seek lodging for up to nine reenactors during the event, preferably close to the George Washington Inn. Those interested can call Morgan at 360-477-0984.
The Northwest Colonial Festival runs 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Thursday-Sunday, Aug. 10-13.
Advance tickets are $12 per person through Wednesday, Aug. 9, online or $25 for a four-person family pass at www.facebook.com/colonialfestival or www.nwcolonialfestival.com. Each ticket is good for the whole weekend.
At the event, tickets are $15 for visitors 13 and up while children 12 and under are free. A family pass is $30 at the gate.
Doug Nelson of Poulsbo with the Sons of the American Revolution talks about Betsy Ross’ flag to visitors of the Northwest Colonial Festival in 2016. Sequim Gazette file photo by Matthew Nash
The encampment at the Northwest Colonial Festival, seen here in 2016, yet again features live music and reenactments of blacksmiths and gunsmiths from 1775. Sequim Gazette file photo by Matthew Nash
British Recoats attack colonists after hearing the “shot heard round the world” at last year’s Northwest Colonial Festival. This year organizers have included more reenactors on both sides. Sequim Gazette file photo by Matthew Nash
