Small Town News

Revitalizing Union

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Tourism association launches three-week-long Traveler Days celebration today

As Union's first-ever Traveler Days festival kicks off today - the start of a multi-weekend event from Earth Day to Mother's Day - the Union Tourism Association (UTA) will have a lot to celebrate.

The elaborate event is both the culmination of a whirlwind of planning in the last four months, and, in a way, the realization of a tourism focal point that the UTA has talked about since its formation only one year ago.

"When we formed, we tried to figure out what the primary value of Union was," said UTA president Matthew Melendez Blegen. "We didn't want just any tourism; we wanted tourism that nurtures the unique nature of Union."

To that end, Traveler Days ties in artistic events like open art-studio tours, poetry slams, culinary arts classes and more to reawaken a town that was once called "the Venice of the Northwest" for its flourishing artist colony.

The name of the event comes from the return each spring of "The Traveler," a rock formation in the shape of a man on Mt. Washington visible only to Union.

UTA member Kathryn Kamin is coordinating the open art-studio tours, which take place the last weekend of Traveler Days, May 8 and 9. A select group of local artists will set up temporary studios in up to 20 different UTA-member lodging sites in Union and Hoodsport.

"It's just going to be a really great mixture of classical and abstract art, as well as modern," said Kamin, whose husband is a classically trained painter and drawer. "It's going to be really fun."

Kamin hopes that the festival will continue every year, a hope that looks to be more than possible given the number of accomplishments the UTA has garnered since March 2009, when the association first got together without the thought of actually forming an organization.

"It was never supposed to be an organization," Blegen said. "The business community was really worried that it was going to be a rough summer, because of the economy ... so, we thought, 'How can we better partner so we're doing a better job?'"

The rest has been a blur. By June, the first brochures came out. In July, the UTA launched its new Web site. At that point, Union caught the attention of Forbes Traveler, which later named it one of America's Top 20 Prettiest Towns for 2009.

The success of Union's other tourism festival, Pumpkin Fest in October, motivated the UTA to work even harder on Traveler Days, which will hopefully open up the tourism season sooner, Kamin said. The festival will also witness the launch, on May 1, of the new Union Visitor's Center, staffed entirely by volunteers.. What's next for the UTA Blegen isn't sure of, although planning has already begun for Pumpkin Fest.

"We're still getting our sea legs, but we're having fun," he said.

Event Listings:

Traveler Days: April 22-May 9

WEEK ONE - April 22-25

Thursday-April 22

"Sowing the Seeds from Farm to Table - An Afternoon Spring Soiree" - Robin Hood, free, 3-7pm

Hood Canal Communications -$10 Credit for Converting to Paperless Billing - 8am-5pm, Union and Shelton offices

Friday - April 23

Walkie-Talkie Trash Walk Along Hwy 106. Starting Points: Hood Canal School, Hunter Farms, Union Marina

Saturday - April 24

Hood Canal Improvement Club's Dalby Waterwheel Spring Spruce -10am

Cameo Boutique 28th Anniversary Open House - Sat. & Sun. -- 10am-5pm

WEEK TWO-May 1-2

Saturday - May 1

Grand Opening - Union Tourism Association Visitor Information Center - 11am

Season Opening - Hood Canal Evening Market - Robin Hood Village - 4-7pm

Pub Poetry Slam/Spoken Word Performance - Robin Hood Pub -7pm

Culinary Art/Wine Class Series - The Bend on Hood Canal -11:30am. Tickets: $25 per class

Cameo Boutique Open House -10am-5pm

Sunday - May 2

Cameo Boutique Open House -10am-5pm

Lady Alderbrook Historic Union Water Tour-2-4pm. Tickets: $30

WEEKEND THREE - May 8-9

Saturday - May 8

Open Studio/Tour of Lodging -AGYC, Robin Hood, Harmony Hill, UTA Office - 10am-6pm

Traveler Days Cocktail Party & Art Auction - AGYC, 7-10pm. Tickets: $20

Cameo Boutique Open House -- 10am-5pm

Sunday - May 9

Open Studio/Tour of Lodging -AGYC, Robin Hood, Harmony Hill, UTA Office - 10am-6pm

Harmony Hill Mother's Day Brunch - 10 & 11:30am. Tickets: $25

Harmony Hill Plant Sale -10am-4pm

Cameo Boutique Open House -10am-5pm

For detailed schedule information see www.visitunion.com/pdf/



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© 2010 Shelton-Mason County Journal Shelton, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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