A {Virtual Virtual}} Celebration WRITTEN BY SAMANTHA BOSSHART, SARATOGA SPRINGS PRESERVATION FOUNDATION PHOTOS PROVIDED
The 2016 Porch Party that took place at 48 Union Avenue. Photo Credit: The Harris Company
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n Thursday, May 7th the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation was scheduled to host its Porch Party, the kick-off event to its annual Historic Homes Tour. Each year, the Historic Homes Tour provides the rare opportunity to see the private interiors of historic homes throughout Saratoga Springs. Sadly, like so many events, the Porch Party and the Tour had to be postponed due to the Coronavirus. The Porch Party always marks the start of spring and provides one of the first opportunities to reconnect with people after a long, cold winter. Warm weather and being with friends are two things that I think all of us are particularly longing for during this time of quarantine. With everyone moving to virtual meetings and happy hours, the Foundation thought that while the Porch Party could not take place in person, it could bring the Porch Party to everyone in their own home. A virtual event could serve not only as a reminder that this would have been time when we would have gathered together on
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a beautiful historic porch to enjoy good food, drinks, and live music, but also as a way to encourage people to order take out to support local restaurants during these challenging times. The Virtual Porch Party was held on the evening of Saturday, May 9th from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. via Facebook Live. Leading up to the event, the Foundation not only encouraged people to order take-out, but also offered Porch-traits by Brian V Photography for families to memorialize this moment in time for a donation, hosted a porch decorating contest to get people into the spirit, and encouraged people to post photos of themselves toasting preservation the night of the event and tag the Foundation to win giveaways of gift cards to local restaurants and businesses. These gift cards were donated by the Board of Directors as their way to give back to those who have supported the Foundation in the past. As the largest fundraiser of the year for the Foundation, the Board of Directors and staff were disappointed to have the Historic Homes Tour and Porch Party postponed, but after years of planning events
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