Second annual Northwest

Colonial Festival

When: 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Aug. 11-14

Where: George Washington Inn & Estate, 939 Finn Hall Road

Cost: $10 per person, 12 and under free. Purchase online to save $2; Family pass $20. Passes good all weekend; Tea $33.95 (three times daily).

More information:

Find NW Colonial Festival on facebook, colonialfestival.com or www.walavender.com.

History is being remade — or more specifically, reenacted — in a historically accurate fashion this week in Agnew.

For the second year, the Northwest Colonial Festival returns Aug. 11-14 to George Washington Inn, 939 Finn Hall Road, bringing visitors to 1775.

Event director Dan Wilbanks, a school principal and amateur historian from Roseburg, Ore., said the event has grown significantly in its second year.

“It’s coming off the wall,” he said. “We have almost 60 reenactors compared to about 25 last year.”

Each day of the festival centers around The Skirmish at Lexington Green being fought at 11:30 a.m. and The Battle for Concord Bridge at 2 p.m., which are credited with launching the Revolutionary War.

As an added effect, blue forget-me-nots flowers bloomed under the replica bridge to represent water.

Wilbanks said the grounds are split into two with the battleground and a rustic colonial village where artisans, a militia camp and British military camp set up for visitors to see. A small tomahawk range has been set up, too.

Along with several participating groups like the Second Connecticut Regiment of Militia and the Northwest Colonial Reenactors Association, Wilbanks said the Daughters and Sons of the American Revolution groups will have booths at the festival.

Organizers also added hay bale theaters facing the water and mountains with five sessions of portrayers/reenactors talking about an array of topics such as clothing of the period, weapons and more.

Theater sessions and battles do not overlap.

Daily tea times return too with seating limited to 32. It includes a full three-tiered service of period-inspired scones, sandwiches, fruit and desserts along with the inn’s signature tea. An RSVP is requested through the festival’s website and it is an additional cost for entry.

Paul Revere, played by Clinton Crouch, rides onto the grounds everyday at 10:30 a.m. reenacting the infamous “Midnight Ride,” too.

Sequim’s Vern Frykholm returns to portray George Washington along with Greg Hardy as Ben Franklin and Jack Paul as John Adams.

Frykholm said there are three types of people who participate in events such as these: those who do it for fun and dress up not too accurately, reenactors who have everything historically correct and portrayers, like him, who have read a lot on their person.

Frykholm said he’s read more than 50 books and 100 articles on Washington to be as accurate as possible.

“When you’re representing the father of your country you can’t put your own bias into it,” he said.

“There are things back then we all curl our toes at that aren’t politically correct. My goal is to be historically correct to the way it was 250 years ago and allow people to learn from history.”

Moving ahead in time

Last year’s event coincided with Sequim Lavender Weekend over five days but this year’s event condensed to four days for logistical reasons, organizers say.

“It’s a little hard to get reenactors for five days,” Wilbanks said.

Plus, he and other volunteers wanted to give the festival its own weekend.

“This way people are just coming over for it,” Wilbanks said. “We were competing with the resources of the lavender farms. This weekend is the (Colonial Festival’s) weekend.”

Frykholm said their focus this year is to build the presentation, hence why they’ve added so much.

“Last year we got a great reception,” he said. “I think people are just going to be tickled. There’s nothing like this on the West Coast.”

Wilbanks said he knows of several 19th century reenactments such as for the Civil War but not for the 18th century west of the Mississippi River.

“There seems to be a resurgence for information about where we came from as Americans and how we developed as a nation,” he said.

For more information on the festival, visit www.colonialfestival.com or www.walavender.com.