Winterfest 2009

Friday Evening, December 4th

Details to come!

Manette Fest 2009

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Schedule of Events:

8:30am Fun run registration at Domstad Park (click here for online registration)

9:00am Fun Run begins, starting at Domstad Park

9:00am $5.00 Pancake Breakfast at the Manette Saloon

9:00-9:30am Announcements

9:45-10:15am Mark Moore (main stage)

10:30-11:00am Mikey Moore (main stage)

11:15-12:00am Bremerton Community Theater (main stage)

12:15-12:45pm Little Elvis (main stage)

12:30pm People begin parade staging at the old Post Office on north end of Scott Ave.

1:00-2:00pm The Tiniest Parade, Followed by Kids Parade Awards (main stage)

Hosted by Ruth Reese

2:00-2:30pm Rusty West (main stage)

2:45-3:15pm Emery Carl (main stage)

3:30-4:50pm Tracey’s Fashion Show (main stage)

4:05-5:05pm Closing act, Christine O’Daine and the Hip Replacements (main stage)

6:00pm Streets re-open

Booth#    Craft/Service/Retail Vendors

1. Storybook Tea  x
2. William Wettleson
3. Peace Lutheran x
4. Rainbow Girls
5. Diane Dezines x
6. Avon-Barbara Wooten x
7. West Sound Quilters x
8. Patti Lent
9. Head to Toe Salon
10. Lisa Diehl x
11. Salvation Army
12. Pookie’s Precious Creations x
13. Pookie’s Precious Creations x
14. Costco x
15. Tammy Squiox x
16. Curves x
17. BCT x
18. Manette Community Church x
19. Kitsap YMCA
20. Hummingbird Soda x
21. Manette Neighborhood Coalition
22. Home Depot n/a
23. Paradise Getaways
24. Handmade Key-Chains-Ronald Palmer x
25. Manticore Stencil Art x
26. Pampered Chef-Heidi Ogle x
27. ALDA Jewelry x
28. Butterflies and Roses- Margaret Martin x
29. Cookie Lee x
30. Mary Kay
31. Scentsy Wickless Candles
32. Rejuv
33. Beer
34. Beer
35. Beer
36. Crimson Cove Specialties x
37. Heartache Bakery
38. Tupperware x
39. Bobbi Lee (Kettle Corn) x
40. —-
41. —-
42. CJ’s Evergreen Market x
43. Q’s Yakitori x
44. Gynos
45. Mocha Medics
46. Gatherings-Kathy Palmer x
47. Happy Go Lucky Face Painting
48. City Proposition–Adam Brokus
49. June Carrol x
50. Elect Wolfe (Judge)
51. Silverwolf Creations
52. 1384 Amalgamated Union/ Isagenix x
53. West Sound Church
54. NAACP

For more information or questions please call Wendy Daniels at Storybook Tea: 479-3501

Manette Mom’s Day Out

10am-12pm:                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Mother’s Day Portraits with Glenn Davis of Legendary Portraits

at Storybook Tea & Boutique

2015 Harkins St. Bremerton, WA 98310

360-479-3501

FREE Photo Shoot!

1-4pm: Pick up an Event Card at 1 of our merchants, get it stamped by all of our merchants and vendors and enter our Raffle Basket worth of $250.00!

Live Music sponsored by “Bremerton Community Theater” at The Stage on 11th

FREE Flowers sponsored by “Paul’s Flowers” given out at “Manette Antiques”

$3.00 Kid’s Face Painting from 12-3:00pm at Storybook Tea & Boutique.

Drawing at 4pm at the Stage (Located on 11th St next to  “Tracey’s Barbershop” )

Manette: Bremerton’s cool, quirky side

by Deborah Bach on 02/22/09 at 3:32 pm

Marty McOmber | TSNW
A beacon of cool in Manette

Mention Bremerton and most boaters will probably conjure up an image of the gritty Navy yard or the new waterfront condos near the town’s promising but forlorn downtown.

Few would likely think of the funky little neighborhood just a short walk—or dinghy ride—across Port Washington Narrows, at the entrance to Dyes Inlet.

But the trip across the historic Manette Bridge is worth the effort. At the other end is a community with the pleasant feel of a charming small town that time forgot or a hipster neighborhood not yet discovered. Manette’s small main strip offers a scattering of antique stores, an old-school sandwich joint, a waterfront bar and restaurant, an upscale Italian eatery, a live music tavern and a wine and martini bar.

It’s the type of place where a gray-haired Manette native will talk about the days when workers rowed across strong currents to get to the shipyard and the bartender will drop names of the famous Seattle musicians she calls friends.

Manette’s commercial center

From a distance, you can spot Manette by the towering, iconic yellow “TV” sign above Manette TV & Electric. Serving as the equivalent of a lighthouse for this small community, it evokes a kind of frozen-in-time vibe that suggests undiscovered treasures.

On a recent Saturday afternoon, Ruth Reese tended her store, Manette Antiques, as locals stopped by to say hello and customers poked around her selection of glassware, jewelry, vintage clothing and other curiosities. The president of the Manette History Club, Reese grew up in the neighborhood, left for 27 years and has been back for almost two decades.

“It’s quiet. It’s charming. You don’t have to worry,” she said. “I love it.”

Dollar table trinkets at Manette Antiques

For its size, Manette offers an impressive array of eateries, all within a few blocks of each other. On the waterfront is the Boat Shed Restaurant, on a site where fishermen once bought bait and launched their boats. The old boat shed and bait shack have long since been replaced with a restaurant and pub that has an outdoor deck and a dock for customers arriving by water.

Across Wheaton Way at the corner of 11th Street is the delightfully retro-looking restaurant The Patio, in a tiny building that in various incarnations was a diner, a pizza joint and a laundromat. For takeout, try Kate’s Jersey Subs + Delicatessen on the corner of 11th and Pitt, which offers homemade sandwiches and salads.

A couple of blocks up 11th Street is the Manette Saloon, a tavern with live and DJ music on weekends. If the band gets too loud, head over to the adjoining Side Bar, a pretty, candlelit wine and martini lounge (read our review here).

For fancier fare there’s Fischiare La Fermata, a Northern Italian eatery across 11th and up a block. A little further up, on Perry Street just off 11th, is August Wynn, a former garage turned restaurant.

The neighborhood’s other businesses include a hair salon, massage studio, a barber shop specializing in fade haircuts and Afros, and a recent addition to the area, Storybook Tea & Boutique, which hosts tea parties for little girls, complete with fairytale dresses and tiaras, and Friday evening bedtime stories with tea.

The Manette Bridge, linking downtown Bremerton and Manette

Manette’s origins date back to at least 1866, when a settler named Theodore Williams bought 38 acres in the area and built a saloon to cater to sailors and workers from the Port Orchard Mill, located in the community of Enetai, a few miles east. Williams was followed by Joseph Pitt, a real estate entrepreneur who arrived in 1891 and began selling lots for homes and businesses.

The town was originally dubbed Decatur, but as Reese tells it, the name was already registered at a post office elsewhere. The settlement was instead named Manette, after one of the ferries that carried passengers across to Bremerton before the Manette Bridge opened in 1930. Manette was annexed to Bremerton in 1918.

These days, Manette’s residents range from families with roots there stretching back generations to former Seattleites drawn by less expensive housing and a slower pace.

Manette business directory

Reese and others say there’s concern among locals that Manette not become an overly commercialized neighborhood with tall buildings blocking water views. A proposed development plan for the neighborhood, which would increase density and lift height restrictions on buildings more than 35 feet high, has been controversial.

“People just don’t want condos like they have downtown,” Reese said, referring to the new waterfront developments near Bremerton’s ferry terminal.

Bonnie Ulsh, who’s lived in Manette since 1994, said she’s not overly worried about newcomers changing the area’s character. “I like the fact that it hasn’t had a tremendous amount of growth, but that there are people who are taking an interest in restoring the community,” she said.

“I wouldn’t want to see it change and become too commercialized. I like the small town feel.”

Change seems inevitable for Manette, as the city of Bremerton moves forward with plans for growth in several neighborhood centers as part of its overall comprehensive plan. The old Manette Bridge is scheduled for replacement, with construction expected to run from 2010 to 2012.

But for now, though it’s less than 12 miles away from Seattle by boat, Manette feels a world away. Catch it while you can.

A New Beggining

Even though Manette is located in the city of Bremerton, many Bremertonians  have yet to discover it!  There is no Walmart, Safeway, Target, or Fred Meyer. There are no “big” business corporations in Manette, making it an “out of the way” destination.  Although it is a 10 minute walk from the Ferry terminal and downtown Bremerton, many local citizens have yet to find themselves walking the historic streets and perusing the promising local business that dwell there.   If only they new what they were missing!  Well, that’s why we are here!  The Manette Business Association is made up of a small group of local entrepreneurs trying to reach out and spread the word about our wonderfully diverse and eclectic community.  Come and visit us, your heart will thank you!

—Wendy Daniels

Storybook Tea & Boutique