An interview with the ORS Founder (me!)

Barbara Wright of Brightjoy Productions has once again provided us with a lovely movie of the ORS... featuring an interview with moi. I'm being as silly as is required of me. :)

A new movie of the ORS Winter Ball 2008

Barbara Wright of BrightJoy Productions has provided this movie for us. How kind of her! It really gives a nice picture of the whole evening, from the beginning, through dinner ot the end. And lots of special moments showing the lovely venue are also included.

Some Good Press

The ORS had two newspapers present at the Winter Ball on the 15th, and the first to produce an article was the Portland Tribune.

The article link:
The Portland Tribune Article Link

The article screen-capture:

(click for larger view options)

Sweet!

A Most Elegant Ball

The Oregon Regency Society enjoyed its second annual Regency Costume Winter Ball this past Saturday at the David Cole Queen Anne Victorian Mansion in Portland. It was extremely well attended and received a small measure of publicity from a couple of Portland newspapers.

Full Collection of Photos here (will continue to be updated).

Also go to the ORS Past Events page for more sets and collections from other members.

The ORS Winter Ball ~ Only One Month Away!

Dinner, Dancing and Diversions.

Live music.

Silent Auction for Costume Items and Photograph Portraits

Pre-Ball English Country Dance Workshop (location TBA)

Event Sponsored by the

David Cole Queen Anne Victorian Mansion

Current schedule subject to change

Details on tickets, menu, dances and more can be found here:

http://www.oregonregencysociety.com/events.htm

Berry Botanic Garden Picnic

Up in the Portland hills near Lake Oswego, nestled in a fancy-schmancy neighborhood of large houses; there is the estate of Rae Selling Berry which is now the Berry Botanic Garden. This location is very informal; a garden of natives with wild looking paths and little nooks and crannies. There is a sedum garden; being grown in cast cement trays, varieties I'd never seen before... and a soft clovery lawn decorated with the occasional mole hill.

It was here where the ORS members shook out their picnic sheets and put down their baskets. Parasols were popped open, and books, sketching papers and pencils were unpacked. Kay Demlow, ORS member and talented costumer, also brought the game of "Graces" for attendees to play; and the sticks and hoops were well put to use.

Tara and Christian brought "Pétanque"; a game similar to Bocci or Bowls, and they too kept various members entertained. A hand or two of whist were played, and there were paths to be explored, strawberries and treats to be enjoyed.

It was the perfect way to spend a sunday.

More photos here:
Lauren's Pictures
Stephanie's Pictures

A Midsummer Night's Dream Masquerade

http://www.oregonregencysociety.com/pastevents/msnd.htm

Amethyst Photography
Lauren's Collection
Stephanie's Collection

What a magical night it was. Click the links above to see for yourself. :)

A Picnic at Pittock Mansion

Portland Oregon cannot lay claim to very many super-old, Regency appropriate sites. It is a sad conundrum for the ORS, living in the 'New World' ~ Especially the late-settled west-coast. However in our state there are a few jewels that seem to invite people to arrive in period costume.


The Pittock Mansion was built by Henry Pittock, a Portland Newspaper Magnate, whose family occupied this magnficent French style chateau until 1958. The Mansion sits high on the west hills of Portland, overlooking the valley, and the cascade range, Mount Hood a gleaming jewel on the horizon. Now property of the Portland Bureau of Parks & Recreation, the mansion gets many visitors all year 'round.


Its grounds are immaculately landscaped, and the perfectly manicured lawns, soft, drooping willows, and colourful tufts of roses and other perennials, makes it the perfect location for a Regency picnic. We spent Sunday afternoon occupying the shade beneath the trees at 'the point', where the garden ends in a sudden sharp hill, opening up the view to the city of Portland.


Roughly 20 ORS members, coupled with about ten ladies from the Portland Ladies Tea Guild; who dovetailed their event with ours, created a sizable spectacle for Mansion visitors to see. Many a strolling soul slowed to observe the genteel group in regency costume, taking full advantage of the spectacular day.



Pittock Mansion volunteer Sherry Uchytil came especially on this day, costumed for the occasion to give a Master Gardener's tour of the Pittock Mansion's fine grounds to members of the ORS and tourist alike.



Members also took advantage of the tours of the Mansion itself. A beautiful museum, it features so many appropriate architectural and decorate touches as to make it the perfect opporunity for photographs.


It was a lovely occasion, one we hope to repeat next summer.


Here are links to some of our members' photos of the day. Enjoy. :)

Lauren's Photos

Aaron's Photos

Steph's Photos

Kim's Photos

Eden's Photos

The Emerald City Regency Party ~ May 24

The Eugene "Emerald City Regency Party" was a wonderful success. Thea had decked the whole venue out in a riot of flowers and art; the buffet was a colourful array of fruits and cheeses and other delicious tidbits; and there was much dancing.

The full set of photos can be viewed here.

Bonnet Workshop Fun

It was a spectacular day to be in Welches. The sun was shining and the air was clean. We had ten people show up from all over the place, Lisa drove all the way from Eugene! I had set up a nice little spread of cookies and mini-scones, and other snacks, which were supplemented by Pamela Miller of the Ladies’ Tea Guild, who brought tea and other refreshments.

I set up my supplies; none of which I used because most of them were bought off me! :)

There were many busy hands, gluing and cutting, stitching, sewing and unraveling.

There was also some necessary silliness as well.

All in all it was a wonderful day, and several very nice bonnets came out of it. Some still required the finishing touches, but the owners promised me to send final pictures when they’re done.

A lovely tea party

Sixteen ladies (and girls) in Regency costume converged on the Lavender Tea Room in Sherwood Oregon this past Sunday to enjoy a delicious tea of savory sandwiches, scones and delightful desserts.

You can see a full collection of photos here.

An excellent time was had by all. We enjoyed a mix of new as well as familiar faces in the ORS. A usual, it was a civilized, wonderful group of people.

Our next event; a Regency Dance workshop will occur in Eugene this coming Sunday, and then we will be hosting a Bonnet workshop on the 26th of April.

If you're in Oregon, or somewhere nearby... join us!

Picnics and Tea and Bonnets, Oh My!

We've been super busy lately. Throwing together events so that there is a nice, steady succession of activities to keep our members engaged and busy. :)

We have two picnics, a series of stays workshops in the work, a bonnet workshop, a Regency Tea, and we're going to start planning for the Winter ball soon. It's all very exciting.

It's important to keep our site active and dynamic. There are far too many regency groups out there with websites with dead rings, broken links, missing images, galleries of events long past, and no dates later than 2004. That is not acceptable for the ORS. We're trying very hard to broaden our range of acitivities and to widen our scope of members; involving more facets of the period we all adore than just one or two repeating things. We adore Jane, but we want to step beyond the academic study of her works, we want to live them, experience them, all parts of it, from the wars that raged during that period, to the more scandalous side of the period, like the edgy Byron.

So that is why we are increasing our events, and soon we will try to offer some lectures, readings in order to meet the needs of the folks who like to learn new things about the period.

In the meantime, it's a social calendar few can withstand, that's for sure. But we're excited nonetheless.

A Stellar Evening

The "Bring in the Spring" Regency Party was a resounding success! You can find photos of this event here. Short movies of the dancing will be posted soon. There was a beautiful array of costumes and company to enjoy and we all had a wonderful time.

Pictured above is the Demlow Party of Lavender's Green; a historic costuming compay. Kay (in green) made nearly all of the costumes pictured here. There were over 40 people in attendance, all of them in some form of costume. A slideshow of pictures is also available below.

A Regency Party in Lake Oswego; Feb 9, 2008

Tickets:

$20 adults ~ Children under 14 $10.00

ORS Premium Members: 25% off all tickets fees.

English Country Dance and Whist lessons.

Regency Costume Recommended;
see the ORS Resources page for costume sources and references.