7th Annual Heritage Festival & free attractions
mid September please call for exact dates
last year it was held on the 16-17th)
Last years theme was Windows on the Water, the new theme has not yet been announced, but the festival follows the same format.....see you there.
Highlighting the Festival will be a Saturday tour of seven homes that uniquely reflect individualized interpretations of our area's water-view "cottage" lifestyle. Tour homes, open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., include lakeshore, riverbank and millpond settings in Saugatuck, Douglas and Pier Cove. The tour is structured for self-driven / start-anywhere / enjoy-at-your-own-pace visits, with free parking, docents and information sheets to point out interesting details at each home.
A pre-tour presentation -- 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. in the Saugatuck High School auditorium -- will "set the stage" with historical perspectives on living along river and lake shore, by our own author/historian Kit Lane and Mary Ann Curtis.
The Tour includes a free refreshment stop at the Old School House in Douglas, now owned by the Historical Society and being renovated as a Heritage Discovery Center. Accompanying the refreshments will be an informative outdoor display of a rare 26-ft. metal-hulled Francis Lifeboat, ca. 1860, recently restored by Historical Society volunteers as one of only two remaining along the Great Lakes.
Ticket-holders also will enjoy a special-rate Star of Saugatuck Saturday sunset or Sunday afternoon River Cruise
Among the event's free attractions:
■ The "Clothesline" Art Show, Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the Old School House lawn, presents paintings, drawings, sculpture and craftwork by members of the Saugatuck-Douglas Art Club, with many artworks hung in the Club's traditional outdoor display on clotheslines.
■ A trip to the Historical Society's award-winning Museum will enhance visitors' appreciation for our area's architectural heritage with "Walls Talking: Stories Our Houses Tell", a new exhibit that portrays the 175-year evolution of styles characterizing this area's built environment in rare historic photographs. The centerpiece of this exhibit is a small house, open on three sides to offer a peek into stylized full-scale rooms filled with artifacts that "speak" of the lifestyles of three very interesting locals: a farmwoman who saved everything four generations of her family accumulated since the 1880s; an artist who lives in a house her ancestors moved to Saugatuck in 1868 from the nearby "buried village" of Singapore; and the Chicago muralist who invented the WPA style of mural art in the 1920s and enjoyed summer respites here. The Museum is open from Noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
■ A Vintage Base Ball Association Match at Beery Field on Saturday pits our Douglas Dutchers against the Eau Claire Cherry Pits, playing under the very different rules and gentlemanly demeanor of the 1860s. Warm-up at 3 p.m., Match at 4 p.m.
■ Fenn Valley Vineyard and Winetasting Tours will be offered with a special Heritage Festival schedule starting tours on the hour and half-hour Saturday 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 4 p.m.
Also on both days, Fennville's Crane Orchards offers apple picking and a corn maze, featuring a field of popular "Honeycrisp" apples freshly opened for the Festival at 55 cents/lb., 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Their corn maze will open from Noon to 6 p.m.: adults $7; ages 5-12 $5; under 5 free.
Homes Tour ticket price is $20
