Look, don’t go around telling people we told you this, but there’s going to be a little booze and a little dancing at the Lee-Fendall House Museum & Garden in September.
The museum is hosting a “secret” speakeasy fundraiser that both pays homage to Old Town’s bootlegging legacy and will help raise money to support the rebuild of a collapsed historic wall on the property.
“The 20s are back in a big way!” the museum said on the event page. “Please join the friends, board, and staff of the Lee-Fendall House Museum in our historic garden on Saturday, September 25th for Sips & Secrets: A Speakeasy Night.”
The home was once owned by a liquor wholesaler, though the museum admitted the connection to Prohibition-era bootlegging is more tenuous.
“Sips & Secrets honors Lee-Fendall House’s Prohibition-era history, when we were home to one of Alexandria’s liquor wholesalers (and possible bootleggers!),” the museum said. “It features lots of fun speakeasy surprises, including dancing to live jazz and ragtime, and costume contest for the best flapper or mobster style, 1920s-style cocktails, and more. This year, the event will raise funds for the repair of our 220-year-old brick garden wall, of which a 70-foot section collapsed in early summer, while also supporting the museum’s ongoing work in historic preservation, education, and community engagement.”
General admission is $85, or $65 for anyone 30 and under. A private reception before the event is VIP only, with tickets priced at $115.
The museum also previously launched a GoFundMe to help pay for repairs to the wall. The repairs are made more expensive for the need to hire technical and historic expertise to utilize the original bricks. The GoFundMe has raised $6,700.
Our annual speakeasy fundraiser is back this fall – enjoy music 🎶, dancing 💃, and cocktails 🍸 while helping raise funds to repair our historic garden wall 🧱. Tickets are going fast: https://t.co/YGmVr4tUuf pic.twitter.com/tyb7kEoPYh
— Lee-Fendall House Museum & Garden (@leefendallhouse) July 20, 2021
