Tag: Fundraiser

The Winchester Star ran the preview article written by Stephen Nielsen and photographed by Ginger Perry for the Holiday House Tour today:

For the 39th year, Preservation of Historic Winchester is providing a unique look into the historic homes of the downtown area at its Holiday House Tours.

“This might be one of our best tours,” said Sandra Bosley, executive director of Preservation of Historic Winchester (PHW).

Candlelight house tours will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, and daylight tours will run from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. On Saturday, in addition to the tours, there will be a preview party at 703 S. Stewart St. The five tour locations are 608 S. Stewart St., 226 Amherst St., 530 Amherst St., 220 W. Boscawen St. and 24 S. Washington St.

The weekend will also feature the Bough and Dough Shop selling handmade crafts, holiday decorations and greenery at the Winchester Little Theatre at 315 W. Boscawen St. The shop will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

. . . The home of David Look and Terry Frye, a Queen Anne style building built in 1888 by businessman Alexander Baker at 24 S. Washington St., is expected to be one of the biggest draws this year.

“It has been painstakingly restored,” Bosley said. “It is probably the most restored house in Winchester.”

The house was purchased in 1983 by Hal and Betty Demuth, who restored it to a single family residence with Victorian furniture and ornamentation. The current owners moved there in 2014 and still have some of the Demuth collection of Victorian furnishings.

After visiting the Holiday House Tour locations, participants are encouraged to have a look at the Bough and Dough Shop for their own holiday decorations. The shop will feature handcrafted items like pottery, soaps, watercolor prints, woodwork and scarves.

. . . Like last year, the proceeds from the shop will be donated to the Winchester Little Theatre’s renovation campaign for the replacement of the roof and other projects.

Read the full story online (login required).

Holiday House Tour Tickets are on sale now at the following Winchester locations:

• The Final Yard, 33 East Gerrard Street
• Kimberly’s, 135 North Braddock Street
• Wilkins’ Shoe Center, 7 South Loudoun Street
• Winchester Book Gallery, 185 North Loudoun Street
• Winchester-Frederick County Visitors Center, 1400 South Pleasant Valley Road

Tickets are also available at the Bough and Dough Shop on December 5 and 6.

You may still purchase House Tour Tickets through www.phwi.org or through the PayPal buttons below. Tickets purchased online will not be mailed after Thursday, Dec. 3 – you may bring your PayPal receipt with you as proof of purchase to pick up tickets at the Tour.

Preview Party and Two-Day Tickets Tickets valid for Preview Party and Candlelight Tours on Saturday, December 5, and for Daylight Tours on Sunday, December 6.

Nonmember $50.00 USDPHW Member $40.00 USD

Daylight Tickets Tickets valid for Daylight Tours on Sunday, December 6.

Sunday Daylight Adult $20.00 USDSunday Daylight Child $6.00 USD

Outside on the deck of the Winchester Little Theatre awaits a bounty of freshly-cut greenery for your holiday decorating. Buy greenery in bulk by the bag at the Bough & Dough Shop this weekend, including pine, juniper, magnolia, spruce, nandina, holly, and boxwood, or buy handmade decorated wreaths, arrangements, and bows for your decorating needs. Special thanks are due to Nancy Murphy and Nate Windle for organizing and crafting the greenery and decor items for the Shop.

Steve and Abi Callahan

Jack Knuckle Gourmet, Winchester’s first gourmet food truck, was opened in 2014 by dynamic husband and wife team Steve Callahan and Abigail Gomez. Steve has been a chef in the industry for over 20 years, and was thrilled to be involved in bringing the exciting food truck culture to the area!

JKG specializes in delicious gourmet sandwiches, but along with street-side vending, they also offer on-site and in-home catering, with exquisitely prepared menus and mouth-watering creations from the skilled hands of the chef.

Whether you stop by the truck in Old Town Winchester, or have JKG cater your event, you are guaranteed to try something new and love every last bite.

Visit Jack Knuckle Gourmet at www.jackknucklegourmet.com and on Facebook.

Menu for Dec. 5 & 6.

Loudoun Valley Herbs

Kim Labash, owner of Loudoun Valley Herbs, has resided in Western Loudoun County for almost 30 years.

Kim grows an extensive collection of herbs and plants on her property with a leaning toward lavender and rose that she incorporates into her crafts and culinary products. No chemicals are used on her plants and all harvesting, drying and processing is handled by her personally. Furthermore, wherever possible all natural fabrics are used in the making of her products.

Kim is always striving to keep her products current.

Kim has demonstrated both soap making and lavender weaving to the public at the US National Arboretum in Washington D.C. and to groups at various local locations, including, but not limited to, the Carver Center and Field of Flowers both in Purcellville, the Middleburg Farmers Market, the Berryville Farmers Market; and the Bluemont Community Center in Bluemont, Virginia.

Kim is the current Chair of the Juried Craft for the Bluemont Fair and coordinates the Bluemont Holiday Craft Show with the Bluemont Community Center Staff.

Becky McGraw

As a young girl, Becky’s passion for baking began in the kitchen helping her family bake Christmas cookies. For the past 6 years, she has been the owner of Beckaboo’s Cakes, specializing in custom cakes, cupcakes, cake pops and cookies for a variety of special occasions.

Beckaboo’s Cakes is passionate about combining sugar and art. We strive to provide our customers with a unique dessert which is not only beautiful, but tastes amazing as well.

We are located in Winchester, Virginia and serve the Shenandoah Valley, Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia and Northern Virginia.

The selection at the Bough and Dough Shop will include chocolate peppermint or gingerbread cake rolls, gourmet holiday cookies, whipped buttercream cupcakes, holiday cake pops and truffles, candied nuts, and more.

Visit Beckaboo’s Cakes online at www.beckabooscakes.com or Facebook.

John & Wendy R. Venskoske

J & W Farm started four years ago by John and Wendy R. Venskoske, Jr. with the idea of adding value to local agricultural products. For Christmas that year, we made these birdseed wreaths to give to family members, friends, and wife’s co-workers. They were so much appreciated that we decided to offer it to our current retail outlets that we were selling our food products to. They have been a hit and steadily growing. We use a special blend of birdseed from two local feed stores and custom make them with seasonal ribbon and/or special requests. For Valentine’s Day, we offer a Heart shaped wreath. Our Holiday Birdseed Wreaths are packaged for gift giving and shipping!

Visit J & W Farm online at www.jandwfarm.com and Facebook.

Monkeytown Pottery

My first experiences with art go back to when I was a small child and my mother was studying art, while she would work in her sketch book, I would work in mine. My love of art intensified in high school. Because it was just so much fun and as my skills developed I found that the moment of creating art felt almost like magic.

I continued my art studies at James Madison and discovered Ceramics. I immediately loved everything about the medium. I kept drawing too and my other favorite medium was pastels. Both ceramics and pastels make art rather quickly and that magical feeling of creation was always there. At this time I was lucky to get an apprenticeship with potter Scott Supraner of Hawksbill Pottery and continued to apprentice him after I graduated from James Madison. Ceramics stayed in my life for the next ten years but at that time I left drawing behind.

In 2001 I bought family property (a general store that was my Grandmother’s and my Great Grandfather’s before) in a little village officially called Bloomfield but unofficially called Monkeytown. Monkeytown Pottery was born and I have been making functional and sculptural ceramic forms there ever since. My love of drawing came back to me during this time and drawing and carving on pots became my new passion defining my style in a way that completes my pots in a new and exciting way.

Recently Monkeytown Pottery has added a gas fired reduction kiln to its back yard. So now I offer a cone 10 line of functional ware as well as oxidized ware.

Monkeytown Pottery offers all sorts of functional pots for the kitchen and home: mugs, dinnerware, baking ware, platters, large bowls colanders, batter bowls and crocks. Also Art Pots for the home and garden: vases, bird baths, masks, face pots, and intensely carved pots!

Visit Monkeytown Pottery online at www.monkeytownpottery.com and Facebook.

Graustark Farm’s Fiber Products

Linda Brown has been spinning, weaving and felting with fiber for over fifteen years. Her foray into the fiber world started with spinning angora from her daughter’s 4H bunny. From there she progressed to raising a few sheep and llamas. After realizing how soft, luxurious and easy to clean the llama fiber could be, Linda developed a breeding program to raise a variety of llamas specifically for their soft fiber and good temperaments. Llama fiber is different from sheep wool in that it is a hair fiber which has no barbs and contains no lanolin.

Through the farm business, Graustark Farm LLC, Linda uses her llamas’ fiber to create custom wearing apparel and accessories through weaving, knitting, crochet and felting. The process starts on the farm with shearing in the spring and then progresses through hand spinning the yarn to weaving or other needlework. Almost all of Linda’s designs are created with her own handspun yarn from llamas living on the farm; other fibers may be added for color or texture. In addition to using llama fiber for her own designs and private commissions, Linda creates with the other farm fibers of alpaca and Romney wool as time allows. The farm participates in fiber shows and promotes llama fiber as a new horizon in luxury fiber.

Linda feels that education about llamas and their wonderful fiber is as important as the sale itself. She hold the position of Senior Consultant with the Camelidynamics program of llama and alpaca handling and training as well as being active in several regional llama associations. Graustark Farm displays llamas and Linda’s fiber art in various settings, such as the Bluemont Fair, Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival, the Blue Ridge Spinners and Weavers Guild, Franklin Park Arts Center Gallery and of course by appointment on the farm. Learn more about llamas and their fiber on the farm web site, www.graustarkllamas.com