PAWA at Port Townsend 2025

This event is for PAWA members only. If you'd like to join, please go to our website, PleinAirWashingtonArtists.com.

Facilitator: Anne Pfeiffer Email: [email protected] Cell Phone:540-556-2941

Port Townsend is more than just another harbor town with beaches and lighthouse. It's a town NC Wyeth would have envishioned, once filled with fishing families, then penniless wanderers and hippies, now home to the Wooden Boat Festival, Centrum Music festivals, kite-boarders and a vibrant downtown full of character. PT has Victorian buildings, restaurants, beaches, two marinas and a dry dock open to the public filled with every boat-lovers dreams of old colorful fishing and sailing boats, both wooden and modern. Fort Worden state park has preserved the historic WWI and II military officers' homes, buildings and armaments and even the original settler's castle turret. There's an uptown of hillside cottages and gardens, Victorian homes and shops, the southend even has a lagoon. Cliffs look down on the downtown or the beaches. On many days, Mt. Baker looms over the state park beach and lighthouse with the Whidbey Island cliffs below it.

If you plan to join this paint out it is strongly recommended that you book your accomodation/camp ground as soon as possible.

Day 1 - Wednesday, September 10th - Fort Worden

Meet at site 23, Fort Worden State Park beach campground. There is a large day-use parking lot across the road from the beach and near my campsite where I will have maps for you starting a little before 9. You will need your WA state park Discover pass to park there. Note you can pick one up at the Fort Worden Park Office of you need. From this location you can walk to the beach, cliffs, lighthouse, Fort Worden buildings (uphill). Or you can choose to just head downtown, uptown or to the southend marina and Boathaven drydock to paint.

Lunch :As of this posting, the lunch spots in Fort Worden SP have not been able to renew their leases, so bring your own lunch, pick up something from Aldrich's market in uptown, or head downtown to the many restaurants or pick up something at the Coop. There are many restaurants in downtown PT open for lunch. I will hand you a list of them in the morning.

After lunch: After lunch you can choose to keep painting in the Fort Worden SP area or head downtown or to the Boathaven marina and drydocks.

End of Day: TBD. We probably won't all fit into one restaurant for dinner, but I will provide a list of restaurant suggestions and some folks camping might want to eat dinner at the campground to squeeze in more paintings. I am looking in to the best location for sharing paintings

Day 2 -Thursday September 11th - Port Townsend
Meet at Marine Park on Water Street beside the Maritime Center to discuss all the downtown locations. From there it is an easy walk to the Port Hudson Marina or all the downtown sites. Free parking on the side of Monroe St, or in the parking lot near Monroe and Washington St. Sometimes you can get lucky parking on Water St.or Washington St. Velocity Coffee shop and Cafe Tenby are close by for your morning coffee.

Lunch - There are many restaurants open for lunch downtown and I will provide a list of those open for lunch. Or pick up a sandwich at the Coop or Aldrich's uptown.

After lunch For those interested in painting boats, some of us will head to the Port Townsend Boat Haven for the marina and accessible dry dock. Carpooling is encouraged for those heading there. I will provide more info.

Day 3 - Friday, September 12th- painters choice

Day 3 is the time you return to those sites you didn't have time for, or if you like to paint charming homes, some folks may want to head uptown to the homes near Lawrence, Clay, and Franklin. A good place to park is near the intersection of Lawrence and Tyler. You can pick up coffee at Aldrich's there

Lunch Aldrich's or the Uptown Pub or downtown. Aldrich's has an upstairs area to eat.

Recommended Lodging/camping:

Camping at Fort Worden beach and woods sites will fill up quickly so reserve ASAP. If you aren't sure you can make it and don't want to pay a cancellation fee, there are usually sites at the nearby Jefferson County fairgrounds last minute with hookups and shower (however, this may change because at this posting, all of the lodging at Fort Worden is no longer available for 2025 so even the fairgrounds might fill). There are a few sites at the Port Hudson marina. The next closest state park campground is Fort Flagler across Port Townsend bay. Sequim Bay SP is 45 minutes away. There are many boutique hotels and air bnbs in Port Townsend. Keep in mind, it will not be possible to get lodging in Fort Worden due to leases not being renewed. The next closest town to PT is Sequim but is 45 minutes away.

Directions : The only direct ferry to PT is from Coupeville on Whidbey (reservations required) but is only convenient for folks coming from Arlington and north. From Northern Seattle area, take the Edmonds/Kingston Ferry, then 104 to 19 to Port Townsend. From downtown Seattle take the Seattle/Bainbridge Ferry, then 305 to 3 to 104 to 19. For those of you south of Seattle, you may want to take 16 from Tacoma to 3 to 104 to 19, or curvy 101 to 20 to Port Townsend. If you live on the Olympic or Kitsap Peninsulas, I probably don't need to tell you how to get there, but from west of the Hood canal you want to take 101 to 20, from east 104 to 19.

Parking Information : You will need your state park parking pass for the Fort Worden area, including the beach. There is a very large day use parking lot between the campground and the beach so parking will not be a problem. Downtown has a lot of 2-hour sites, but spots are less restrictive on Monroe, an easy walk to Day 2 meeting spot, and there are a few parking lots. Keep in mind that Port Townsend is very hilly. Folks who like to walk can easily walk downtown, which is flat, and even on to the Boat Haven. From downtown to uptown is uphill or up a big flight of steps. From Fort Worden to downtown would be a very long walk (all uphill going back), but not far to drive. If you really don't want to deal with parking at all, you can take a bus from the public parking area next to Safeway (not the Safeway parking lot), just check the schedule in advance.

All paint-outs are for Plein Air Washington members. It is easy to join PAWA online. It is a good idea to print out this Eventbrite page to bring with you to be able to refer to this information.

Host or Publisher Plein Air Washington Artists