PORT TOWNSEND — The Uptown Crafts Fair, which takes place today on Tyler Street by the Port Townsend Community Center, is one of the summer events that displays Port Townsend’s unique flair.
“We are celebrating the uniqueness of our town,” said event director Lisa Doray. “This is a celebration of all the people who inhabit Port Townsend.”
While out-of-town visitors are encouraged to attend, the event is oriented toward local people, Doray said.
“The fact that we are uptown makes us less tourist-oriented, although we are happy when they participate,” she said.
Doray said people in the neighborhood look forward to the fair each year. One family even plans its reunions around the event.
Now in its 20th year, the fair will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and include many local and area artists not seen in the weekly Port Townsend Farmers Market.
It is the place to find tie-dyed clothing, pottery, gold and silver jewelry, lampworked beads, driftwood furniture, paintings, leather-worked items, bags, velvet clothing, handspun wool and handwoven rugs by North Olympic Peninsula artists.
Parade colorful
Aside from the street fair, the parade itself is a place where locals display their colors every year.
While registration is recommended, the parade, which starts at 1 p.m. in front of the Port Townsend Library, 1220 Lawrence St., encourages and allows anyone who wants to participate to show up and jump right in.
Anyone who wants to be in the parade should gather in front of the library at 12:30 p.m. There is no entry fee, but participants must sign an insurance waiver.
Doray said the number of parade participants is hard to predict, estimating that between 20 and 50 will show up.
Many of them are tied to the Kinetic Skulpture Races, the Oct. 1 event in which many of the same people participate.
Parade “winners” are awarded handmade trophies assembled by Jeanne Moore of Potpourri Interiors.
The awards are somewhat informal, the winners are decided on a whim, and their categories are made up on the spot, Moore said.
Proceeds from the crafts fair help to fund $4,500 in yearly arts scholarships in East Jefferson County.
Pottery bowl benefit
In addition, fair attendees may paint pottery bowls and also purchase them at the Community Bowl booth. Proceeds benefit the Jefferson County Food Bank.
In its fifth year, the project generates more than $4,000 a year, according to its director, Michelle Stay.
Unfinished bowls provided by local potters are placed on a table where participants add glazes that fit their moods.
The bowls are then fired in a kiln and sold for $10 each at future community events.
“This is a gift to the community,” Stay said. “It’s wonderful to watch the creative process move from one person to another and see them modify their own creativity depending on what the last person has done.”
Doray, who has been fair director for six years, never tires of the event but wishes she could get more help.
“I really like doing this, but it would be nice to get some volunteers to pitch in for next year,” she said.
For information about this year’s fair or to sign up for next year, contact Doray at 360-379 2895 or lisadoray@olympus.net.
“This is always a blast,” said Sherry Kack, owner of Professional Referrals in Port Townsend, about the street fair. “It’s so much fun seeing mature adults be immature.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
