Antiques, Art Line Walk In Downtown Edmonds

Edmonds Art & Antique Walk, March 13 and each second Sunday of the month, noon to 5 p.m. Ten art and antique galleries featured on a walking tour of downtown Edmonds between the waterfront and Fifth Avenue South. Information: 776-6711 -----------------------------------------------------------------

It's worked in Snohomish and Kirkland. Now Edmonds' art and antique curators hope their version will draw visitors, too.

By promoting 10 local shops together each second Sunday of the month - including this Sunday - Edmonds galleries hope to make their city a destination for both serious and casual art and antique collectors.

With the opening of the 21,000-square-foot Waterfront Antique Mall in the former Safeway grocery store at 190 Sunset Ave. last spring, and the Howard/Mandville Gallery which moved into a larger space across the street in January, the city is strengthening its efforts to become a popular art and antique center.

Edmonds borrows its Sunday walk event from an Eastside neighbor. Kirkland began quarterly and, more recently, monthly, Thursday evening art walks for 16 galleries almost five years ago. It now attracts hundreds of patrons to local restaurants and coffee houses after they preview various shows.

To the north, Snohomish has no monthly event, but that town has reaped benefits as it attracts hundreds of antique buyers to more than a dozen shops each weekend.

In Edmonds, the walk is a casual go-at-your-own-pace event starting at any of the three antique stops and seven art galleries along the route. Seven of the shops are clustered in a two-block area between Main and Dayton streets and Fifth and Sixth avenues, making it an easy stroll.

The Waterfront Antique Mall is a good place to start because it offers a large parking lot.

Victorian and antique linens will be featured at Sunday's walk and throughout March, but collectors will regularly find everything from porcelain dolls to beer steins displayed by nearly 150 dealers here.

At the core of downtown's stops is Old Milltown, 201 Fifth Ave., which features two levels of boutiques and shops. Edmonds Antique Mall is on the upper level; Gallery North, Starfeathers and The Old General Store are on street level.

Local artists from North Seattle to Arlington display their work at Gallery North. Glazed ceramics, colored-pencil drawings, mixed media, watercolors and glass works are featured here. Camano Island's Joanne Hidde will display her soft oil-pastel spring scenes and bright summer oil paintings; Romanian refugee Petre Olanu will demostrate his watercolor technique, both at Sunday's event.

Native American baskets, furs, beaded jewelry, relief carvings, vintage photographs and other artifacts are displayed at Starfeathers. Nearby, The Old General Store will feature Northwest Coast Indian Baskets.

Across the street, Heaton House Gallery, 122 Fifth Ave. S. in Dayton Place, will feature antique print restoration and hand tinting demonstrations by Graham Ashford. This gallery specializes in antique engravings and lithographs. Around the corner, Wally's World Antiques displays its vintage wares at 519 Main St. China, crystal, jewelry and vintage home furniture are bought and sold.

Country Cove, 529 Dayton St., typically features antique furniture, too, but will be closed Sunday.

Visitors with their own antiques can have items appraised at Mowbray's Memories, a quaint house at 515 Fifth Ave. S.