The mountains are out and so is the sun! Time to enjoy Hansville’s two annual open-air events. Remember, all you need for a week’s worth of vitamin D is 15 to 20 minutes in the sunshine.
Picnic and vintage cars at Buck Lake
An impressive collection of at least 100 vintage cars and other cool wheels drive onto the field at Buck Lake County Park each July for the Greater Hansville Community Center’s Annual Show ’N’ Shine Car Show & Picnic.
“You can get up close to cars representing every decade, talk to the owners, and picnic on the grass,” says event organizer Bob Bennion. Some recent highlights, says Bennion: “We had a traditional London taxi, a few great Cobras and Ford Broncos, thirties’ hotrods, and a bunch of orphans—cars no longer in production, like the AMX Javelin and the British Hillman station wagon.”
I saw everyone’s favorite, a blue and white ’57 Chevy with its flashy fins. There was even a ’57 Chevy wagon. Both cars are now prized by collectors, although they didn’t sell well at the time.
Be sure to try the delicious barbecue lunch: your choice of a hamburger, hot dog, or a pulled chicken sandwich, chips, a cookie and a drink all for only $6.
10th Annual Show ’N Shine Car Show & Picnic in the Park, Buck Lake in Hansville, Sunday, July 14, 2019, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. If you’d like to bring your vintage ride, go to the Greater Hansville Community Center’s website for more information (hansville.org) on how to register.
Tour fabulous gardens
Eight private gardens will be open for you to visit this month. Tickets are on sale now, with proceeds going to benefit Hansville’s Helping Hands, which assists residents in need and maintains the cemetery.
Among the treasures on this self-guided tour: a large estate with spectacular flower beds, a sweet miniature garden, and unique outbuildings and garden art. A high bank garden with a gorgeous eastern water view and paths leading through a lush landscape of very special trees and shrubs. A fabulous quartet of neighboring gardens, a small front garden with big ideas, and another with stunning views of Hood Canal and the Olympics and interesting mature plantings.
Tour 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, July 20. Several of the properties are quite large, so allow plenty of time. At several gardens you’ll find local artists presenting their work for purchase.
Tickets are $20 at Hansgrill, Savage Plants, Greenwoodes Farm Bakery, Kingston Mercantile and Marine, Thistle Floral and Home, Valley Nursery and on the day of the tour at all garden locations.
Annette Wright was an editor and writer for women’s magazines in NYC for 25 years. You can contact her at wrightannette511@gmail.com.
