About 100 people crowded a meeting room at the Holiday Inn & Suites in Sequim last Friday and Saturday for one reason and one reason only: buttons. Yes, buttons, the kind that fasten your clothing.

The button enthusiasts traveled from Washington, Idaho and Oregon to attend the Washington State Button Society Convention and Show, which was held in Sequim for the first time ever. Perhaps no one was more excited than Gloria Skorvonsky, president of the Peninsula Button Club, host of the convention and show.

If you wanted a button for anything, it was to be had at this show. Everyday costume buttons, animal buttons, comical buttons, to historical buttons, you name it, were displayed on cards, neatly displayed throughout the room. Button enthusiasts, collectors, buyers and sellers, many of whom were long-time friends, searched through thousands of buttons, looking for just the right one to buy or trade.

Susan Goodwin lives in Bainbridge Island, but said she wouldn’t dream of missing the convention. She also travels to Sequim once a month to attend the Peninsula Button Club meetings. “This is the closest button club for me,” she said, while browsing through a stack of button cards. Goodwin said she started her collection with a collection given to her by an aunt. “As soon as I saw the buttons, I was hooked,” she smiled.

Stories about her collection and buttons in general are laced with historical facts, such as buttons made from black glass that were popular in the Victorian era and buttons made from vegetable ivory before plastic was available. Quite interesting, to be sure.

Tom Skorvonsky, Gloria’s husband, is as passionate about button-collecting as his wife. He won two blue ribbons at the show for his set of livery buttons, buttons that were produced in France in the 1850s. Gloria also won a couple of blue ribbons at the show.

This can be an expensive hobby, depending on how much a collector wants to spend on a particular button. Goodwin said the most she spent on one button was $375, while another collector who preferred to remain anonymous, sold a button for $3,000.

And then there’s Erika Bird, a button devotee who lives in Port Angeles and is a member of the Peninsula Button Club. Bird wore a black sweater lined with buttons that resembled pearls and matched a set of two dolls with the same outfit.

The Peninsula Button Club meets the fourth Monday of the month, from 1-3 p.m. at the First Federal Bank, 1202 W. Washington St., Sequim.

For more information, call 683-7935.