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Decorah's Porter House will hold a free open house the afternoon of Saturday, Dec. 4, with live music, treats, beverages and a holiday market.
Decorah’s Porter House will hold a free open house the afternoon of Saturday, Dec. 4, with live music, treats, beverages, and a holiday market.
The Porter House Museum, a Victorian house from 1867, named for its final residents, Bert and Grace Porter, welcomes visitors to its holiday open house on Dec. 4 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The house will be decorated for Christmas and admission will be free.
Music throughout the afternoon will be performed by the recorder trio of Clermont and Elgin and by Julia and Marjorie Wharton of Decorah.
The public is invited to walk through the main floor of the Porter House and check out a mini makers market consisting of Elea Uhl’s old world Santas, blue morpho Holly Yashi earrings from Agora, hand-made vintage music holiday trees, and hand-knitted doll sweaters by Midge Kjome.
Visitors can also preview plans for what board president Peggy Beatty calls a “refresh and reopening of the museum’s kitchen as a usable space for events, and as another room to be included in upcoming tours.” The plan is to bring the kitchen back to the look it had when remodeled by the Porters in the late 1940s.
A parting treat of cookies and warm drinks will be available to visitors.
After canceling the holiday event last year due to COVID, Porter House volunteers are excited to welcome people back once again to this annual event, but ask that all visitors wear masks.
The Porter House has been closed due to the pandemic, but the holiday open house is part of its gradual reopening. Board member Carol Hagen looks forward to further events. “After a two year hiatus due to the pandemic,” Hagen said, “we are planning for two lectures in spring of 2022,” and the museum plans to open for tours as usual in summer 2022.
The Porter House Museum is located at 401 W. Broadway in Decorah.
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