SEQUIM — They go from sweet and lacy to undeniably racy. But these elderly valentines, however delicate or forward, are having a coming-out party at the Museum & Arts Center this Saturday evening. The MAC is throwing a pre-Valentine’s Day get-together for museum members — and yes, you can join at the door — during which it will unveil a display of valentine cards from the past century.
Saturday’s wine-and-cheese event is an after-hours party, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the MAC, 175 W. Cedar St. Those who are already members get in free, while other lovers of art, history and valentines can join for the annual dues of $20 for an individual, $25 for clubs and nonprofit groups, $30 for families and $50 for businesses.
Then, starting Tuesday, the vintage valentines display will be open to the public at the MAC, where winter hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Admission is free, while donations help sustain the nonprofit museum.
And thanks to the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce, another after-hours party is set for Tuesday evening. It’s the chamber’s monthly mixer, with A Catered Affair providing appetizers from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
The valentine show took shape after Lyn Fiveash, the MAC’s history exhibits coordinator, came across an especially ornate card stored away in the museum archives.
It was a lacy one that started her on a search for more fancy love notes, she said.
“We were going through, and we found all of these really cool valentines. Then we started asking around, and others had them, too,” though the cards hadn’t seen the light of day for years.
At last count, Fiveash and her fellow MAC volunteers had collected 118 valentines for the display. Many of them come from the home of MAC member Helen Bucher, who lent them to the museum just for this party only, noted MAC publicist Renee Mizar.
Fiveash is also mixing in the fruits of her research into Valentine’s Day lore, so the story of Cupid, for example, is part of the exhibit.
So are photographs of local couples that Fiveash found in the MAC’s archives.
“I’m a sentimentalist,” she said.
Some of the valentines are quite complex, while others are the sweet kind exchanged by schoolchildren. And then there are the risqué ones.
“Oh, you would be surprised,” said Fiveash. “That’s what is so fun about it.”
The MAC, which opened its exhibit building in 1979, has as its mission “engaging the public in the preservation, study, and interpretation” of the Dungeness Valley’s cultural heritage, as well as “supporting the arts and humanities through inspiring education and exhibition.”
The recently renovated museum beckons visitors to a variety of shows. There are the permanent displays, including the Manis mastodon exhibit and the Jamestown S’Klallam Longhouse highlighting Sequim’s Native American history and culture, and February’s monthlong Student Art Show, a display of 135 works by teenagers across Clallam County.
The MAC board of trustees, along with executive director DJ Bassett, are planning more members-only events like Saturday’s party, Mizar said. Other benefits of membership include a subscription to the MAC newsletter, a 10 percent discount on purchases at the museum gift shop, discounted fees for MAC classes and programs and voting privileges at the annual members’ meeting.
Fiveash, for her part, said she and other MAC volunteers will be unveiling many new exhibits over the coming year. She’s determined to keep things fresh, and said too much history has been hidden away too long in the MAC archives, which are housed in a building known as the DeWitt Center at 544 N. Sequim Ave.
“We found this beautiful wedding picture,” of a Dungeness Valley couple from several decades ago, for example. That photo will be part of this month’s valentine exhibit.
To learn more about the MAC and its past, present and future projects and to obtain a membership form, visit www.MACSequim.org. The DeWitt Center is open by appointment for people conducting historical research, and can be reached at 681-2257. The museum itself is at 360-683-8110.
