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JAMESTOWN, NY (WNY News Now) — This Saturday, seventeen local attractions will waive their entrance fees for Doors Open Jamestown.
The eighteen year tradition rolls around after the holiday season, when tourism slows to encourage locals to visit museums and attractions in our community.
In addition to free admission from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. the Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce, this event’s organizer, is hosting a scavenger hunt with some pretty cool prizes.
“It’s a texting program that we subscribe to and we’ve been able to use it for a lot of different events downtown so it’s been fun. But you’ll see this at all the different attractions, and what you’ll do is you’ll scan this QR code up here in the corner or text ‘open’ to the number down here. In each attraction, there is an actual question this year. Last year we just did a code word because we wanted to try it out and see how it is, this year there’s a question. So you do have to know the answer,” says Carrie Swanson, Jamestown Community Coordinator.
Among participants this year is Pearl City Clay House, which officially opened just this week.
“If you come to Doors Open this Saturday, we actually have two free activities that will allow you to try a couple of things here. We’re asking members of the community to come in and glaze a white tile which will get fired in the kiln and then added to the walls here, because you might notice the walls are all pretty much white right now to add some color and to give the community a sense of ownership of the space,” explains Pearl City Clay House Project Manager Debra Eck.
You can also try clay making, crafting a textured fortune cookie. Once fired in the kiln, stop back and pick up your creation. Some might even have a prize inside.
Across town, the Daughters of the American Revolution are also opening their doors.
“Getting more people in the house will help us with the renovations that we need to do. With an old house you have a lot of things that have to be done to the house to keep it up,” explains Tanny Lachnar, Daughters of the American Revolution Chapter of Jamestown Regint.
Known as the Partridge Sheldon House, this historic mansion was built around 1845 and now serves as the chapter headquarters for DAR after it was willed to them by Sheldon’s granddaughter.
The charitable group is working to restore the house, which is listed on the National Register of Historical Places.
“We rented out the rooms, we rented out the house for events. Small weddings, showers, things like that, and we’d like to bring that back. We’d like to start being able to rent it out. We have a beautiful yard, a beautiful house that makes pictures amazing,” says Lachnar.
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