1920s Centennial Brunch

To continue its centennial celebrations, the Winchester Mystery House hosted a 1920s brunch in July 2023 of the weekend following it’s opening day. My sister was my date in attending this event and half the fun of it was dressing the part! A 1920s brunch in the gardens of La Llanda Villa? Yes please!

Dressing for a 1920s Brunch

My sister and I both made our dresses for the brunch. Once checked in, we took the time waiting for our seats to do some photo ops. Temperatures were due to hit 94º! Can you believe our hair and makeup lasted despite the heat, the sun, and our shenanigans? Quite impressed we didn’t look melted by the end of the day. We certainly felt it!

I tried making my dress from scratch and attempted to draft my own One Hour Dress pattern. Following The Closet Historian‘s guides and videos (One Hour Dress | Dress Slip), I can say I tried. Her information was really helpful. The only reason this project turn into a struggle was due to the choice of fabric for the overdress. This sheer cobweb fabric from Joann’s was surprisingly stretchy AND heavy. What should have fallen to my knees based on my measurements, fell to my ankles. With some tweaking and the addition of a sash, I finally sort-of got the look I was hoping for.

For my hair and makeup, I followed The Closet Historian’s tutorial for the do and Erin Parsons Makeup for the lips and other 1920s makeup tricks. Naturally, I used Bésame Cosmetics. Not sponsored, but I rave about their products often. Over and over, they never fail to get me through any occasion. I’m not a makeup girlie, nor do I wear it often, and almost always, Bésame has what I need.

Mimosas, Artifacts & Brunch

As mentioned, there was a line for check in and then a line for seating. This event was limited to 100 guests and assigned seating. Thankfully, even though we bought our tickets separately, my sister and I were seated together. There were 1920s cars along the path that lead from the driveway to the garage and tables places throughout the greenhouse and lawn.

Mimosas and orange juice were served periodically, and the food offered buffet-style. Not wanting to wait in the line, we killed time in the garage. Wherein, several rare artifacts and documents were on display. I was certainly not going to pass that up! Upon entering the garage, archival gloves were given. They encouraged us to handle anything that wasn’t behind glass.

This had to be one of my favorite parts. How often do you get to actually handle such amazing local history?! As you can surmise from the photos, I was aghast.

Historical pieces sufficiently cooed over, we returned to the buffet queue. Sadly, we had slim pickings as we spent too much time with the past. Despite this fact, there were still sufficient offerings to sample from. After a toast and speech, we were offered more drinks and water. We killed the time enjoying these as we waited for our turn to go on a tour.

A Centennial Tour of the Past

Part of the 1920s centennial brunch included a tour using the original route and script that the Browns had their guides use when the house opened to visitors in 1923. For the most part, it wasn’t too different from your standard tour. However, you ALWAYS learn something new on a tour if you go often enough and this one was no exception. Did you know the Daisy room is where Sarah was during the 1908 earthquake? Of course. But did you know that the crowbar marks that opened the door are still present? Me neither!

Goodbye, Brunch!

As the tour concluded, we were given gift bags. These included a 100 years pin, an apricot orchard candle, an adorable key charm and a “Winchester 100 Years” notepad.

Our tour let out in the gift shop s we made our way to the newly opened museum. We had attended the Centennial Speaker Series highlighting all of the information presented in the museum. However, it was so lovely seeing Janan’s hard work come to life. The museum is one of my favorite parts of the gift shop and I still love to visit it regularly on my visits.

After perusing the giftshop for any possible goodies, we took one last walk around the grounds. We snapped a few more photos together around the house then decided to head home to cool down and escape the heat.

A 1920s Brunch for the Century?

Overall, I enjoyed the 1920s centennial brunch. The chance to handle some more rare artifacts from the house’s archives was enthralling and the food we did get to try was delightful. It is still disappointing those brie bites with fig never made it to my plate. Don’t they just sound divine? For this size of a group, I understand how the buffet option was easiest to manage. However, I wish it was clear that there was a cut off for food service and that certain options were limited. In addition, seating felt status-based. You could just tell that board members and family relations to the Browns got priority, which makes sense. But our table over on the lawn to the side of all the hub-bub felt a little neglected. We at least had some lovely tablemates for conversation.

Personally, I wish the tour had offered a little more? This could be due to my being a seasoned visitor. I just felt like they really amped up the tour as part of the selling point and it didn’t really feel all that different or special. In addition, our assigned tour guide seemed done for the day. Can you blame him though? It was so HOT!

All in all, it was a genuinely wonderful experience. Now, I cannot wait to attend an event where I’m not melting from the heat.