PORT TOWNSEND — Over the past decade, the annual Port Townsend Woodworkers Show has only improved, said one of the founders.
“This show has improved in two ways,” said Seth Rolland, a Port Townsend woodworker.
“All the local woodworkers have gotten better, or we hope we have, and the quality of the attendees has improved because people see there is a lot of nice work here and want to be a part of that.”
About 25 vendors are participating in this year’s show, which takes place from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at the American Legion Hall at 209 Monroe St.
The purpose of the show is to encourage wood-based artisans and craftspeople while providing exposure for those who attend the shows to the latest trends in fine woodwork, organizers said.
Most attendees and exhibitors hail from the Quimper Peninsula, but the show is gaining a wider reach, according to John Marckworth, who has been working on it since its beginning.
“We’ve done some advertising and radio spots, hanging posters on all the ferries,” Marckworth said.
“We do what we can to get people in the door. Most are local, but we are getting more out-of-towners.”
Informal, free
Part of the attraction comes from keeping the show low-key, informal and free.
“The goal for us is to get as many people through the door as possible,” Rolland said.
Rolland said a little more than 30 exhibitors applied for the 25 spots.
Exhibitors include furniture and cabinetmakers, luthiers and instrument-makers, boatbuilders, carvers, sculptors, jewelers, turners and students from the Chimacum and Port Townsend High School woodworking programs.
Marckworth estimates about 1,500 people will attend the event, divided between woodworkers and observers.
Custom work
Rolland, 52, is self-taught and makes a living by building custom pieces, sometimes on commission and other times for himself.
“There are two ways you can work in wood: doing it for someone else or doing it for yourself,” he said.
“I like it because I get to spend a lot of time in the workshop doing something fun and exciting, which can be really fun some days and frustrating as hell on others.”
Clients are usually involved in Rolland’s projects but often provide him leeway.
“They come to me because they like my aesthetics and give me the freedom to do what I want,” he said.
“If there is something I really want to make, I’ll make it.”
The show is organized and presented by The Splinter Group, a loose-knit collective of woodworkers with the mission statement “Dovetailing two communities: woodworkers and Port Townsend.”
Aside from Rolland and Marckworth, Splinter Group members are local professional woodworkers Steve Habersetzer, Michael Hamilton, David Kellum and Tim Lawson.
This year’s sponsors include Carl’s Building Supply, Edensaw Woods Ltd., Henery’s Do it Best Hardware, the Port Townsend School of Woodworking and The Splinter Group.
For complete information about the show, go online to www.splintergroup.org or www.ptwoodschool.org.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
