INTERVIEW CONTACTS:
Home & Garden Tour:
Charlotte Weybright: (260) 348-2871
Chris Ruckman: (260) 426-3946
NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release
ArtsFest:
Ben Porter: (260) 450-1695
Steve Miranda: (260) 610-1075
West Central Neighborhood to celebrate 31st Annual Home & Garden Tour
FORT WAYNE, Indiana – The West Central Neighborhood Association (WCNA) presents its 31st Annual Home &
Garden Tour & ArtsFest September 7 and 8, 2013. The Tour highlights historic homes and buildings from the 19th and
early 20th centuries with the goals of promoting historic preservation and neighborhood revitalization. The Home Tour
runs both days from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm. Tickets are $13 in advance and $15 on the days of the Tour. Children age 12
and under are free. The ArtsFest is free both days.
This year’s Tour offers eight homes, an apartment, a church, and two gardens. Also on the Tour is a recently renovated
Victorian at 409 West Brackenridge, which is now home to a newly opened business. Visitors to West Central will be able
to stop at Rudy’s, near the southwest corner of West Brackenridge, and just a short walk from Parkview Field, and enjoy a
fine array of Hoosier wines and beers and DeBrand chocolates while relaxing and listening to a string band in the large,
enclosed back patio area.
This year, the Tour features a number of homes located along two prominent West Central boulevards: West Jefferson and
West Washington. The Tour offers as its “showcase home” a magnificently painted Queen Anne-style home with
elements that lend structural and textural details to this house built circa 1893. Typical features of the style utilized here
include the cross-gabled form, the asymmetrical placement of the main entrance, bay windows on the east and west sides
of the house, dentil molding details, and half-timbering on the gable.
Also on the Tour and located on West Jefferson is one of the oldest houses in the West Central neighborhood. This gablefront house was built circa 1856 and is constructed of reddish-brown bricks laid in a common bond pattern typified by a
row of bricks laid with their short sides facing out (called a “header”) followed by several rows of bricks laid with their
long sides facing out (known as “stretchers”) and then followed by another row of headers.
Proudly joining the progression of restored houses in West Central, the recently renovated home at 1121 West Jefferson
continues this trend. Built circa 1890, the house is a gabled-ell type commonly utilized nationally between about 1865 and
1920 and characterized by a two-story, front-gabled segment with a side segment (the “ell”) of equal or nearly equal
height.
Located at 902 West Washington, this Tour house was built following plans by local architect Alfred Grindle who worked
under prominent Fort Wayne architects John F. Wing and Marshall S. Mahurin before striking out on his own. The
Graeter House, as it is known, is a notable example of the Queen Anne-Free Classic style of architecture, fashionable
from c.1893-c.1910, which blended elements of the Queen Anne style with classical Greek and Roman architectural
features and details.
Among other Tour stops are homes and establishments that display an eclectic mix of history, architectural styles,
gardens, and art- and antiques-filled interiors.
The West Central Neighborhood was named “Best Old House Neighborhood” in Indiana for 2010 by This Old House
Magazine. For more details on this award, go to http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20343298_20739112,00.html
For 31 years, the Home & Garden Tour has presented homes representing a diverse array of both history and style.
WCNA provides free carriage and pedicab rides along the Tour route as well as a full-color, souvenir Tour brochure.
Proceeds from the Home and Garden Tour are used to support the West Central Neighborhood mission to preserve and
renovate historic properties in the neighborhood as well as undertake projects that beautify the neighborhood.
This year’s ArtsFest will again include an exciting array of activities and arts. Building on the success of previous years,
which included the Downtown Improvement District’s award as “Best Event of 2009,” this year’s festival will once again
INTERVIEW CONTACTS:
Home & Garden Tour:
Charlotte Weybright: (260) 348-2871
Chris Ruckman: (260) 426-3946
NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release
ArtsFest:
Ben Porter: (260) 450-1695
Steve Miranda: (260) 610-1075
be located along Wayne and Union streets between Jackson and Rockhill streets. ArtsFest presents 10 stage performances
designed to please all audiences. The performances include the Fort Wayne Ballet, Taiko Drums, the West Central Jazz
Quartet, Dag and the Bulleit Boys, and several other outstanding groups. The ArtsFest also includes approximately 50
artists’ booths displaying a wide variety of fine arts and crafts. The ArtsFest performances run from 12:00 noon to 10:00
pm on Saturday, September 7th and from 12:00 noon to 6:00 pm on Sunday, September 8th. The schedule is listed below.
The Mad Anthony Brewing Co., Bravas Dogs, and other vendors will offer food, drink, and fun to enhance the Tour and
ArtsFest experience. All ages are welcome in the food and beverage area, but you must be 21 years old or older to
purchase alcoholic beverages from Mad Anthony’s. The ArtsFest is open and free to the public.
Advance tickets can be purchased at Umber’s Do-It-Best hardware stores, 2413 Lower Huntington Road and 2814
Maplecrest Road; Antiques on Broadway, 1115 Broadway; Friends of the Third World, 611 West Wayne Street; Jamison
Meats, 5904 W. Jefferson Blvd. at Time Corners and 503 E. Dupont Road; and Bittersweet Gifts, JoAnn Plaza, 4630
Coldwater Road.
The Neighborhood will sell tickets on the days of the Tour on the grounds of the Swinney Homestead, 1424 West
Jefferson Boulevard and at the St. Joseph Hospital parking lot at West Wayne and Broadway as well as at the ArtsFest.
The Home & Garden Tour and ArtsFest are funded in part by St. Joseph Hospital, Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne,
Northeast Indiana Public Radio (NIPR), and the Downtown Improvement District.
For more information, go to http://www.westcentralneighborhood.org/hg-tour or call (260) 385-9378.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE FOR THE ARTSFEST:
Saturday | September 7
1:00 PM to 1:45 PM | Fort Wayne Ballet
2:00 PM to 3:00 PM | Farmland Jazz Band
3:30 PM to 5:00 PM | West Central Jazz Quartet
5:30 PM to 7:00 PM | Old & Dirty
7:30 PM to 8:15 PM |Taiko Drums
8:45 PM to 10:15 PM | Dag and the Bulleit Boys
Sunday | September 8
12:30PM to 1:30 PM |The Kenny Kenny Bergle Show
2:00 PM to 3:00 PM |The Neat Neat Neats
3:30 PM to 4:30 PM |Austin Johnson
5:00 PM to 6:00 PM |The Jug Huffers