The Pink House Steering Committee got back to work after the holiday break,  meeting on February 6, 2018.
Two of the things determined from that meeting have already been accomplished: The first was to do our annual walk through of the house to be sure she remained secure through the winter.  We started this protective action in February/March of both 2016, and did it again in 2017. This year the third annual check up happened on Tuesday March 20.

Pink House Volunteer and Plum Island Resident Bill Barrett, our trusted, HIC/CSL builder, performed the assessment, accompanied by Parker River Wildlife Refuge Manager Bill Peterson. They cover from the cupola on top through the second floor, down the main staircase to the ground floor and through to the basement. They also walk around the house outside, looking for any leaks, foundation cracks, bowed windows, etc..., checking brick and cinder block integrity  and making note of any exposed areas. Then we ask the Refuge to please do the basic things on our list to keep her sound as possible as we work to shepherd her through this very long process to secure her for the community. 

We believe the success of her holding regardless of what it looks like on the outside is due not only to the strength of her bones, but because Support the Pink House has kept a daily eye on the house. #PinkHouse Volunteers, as well as Bill Barrett and David Dempsey, Steering Committee Building and Land Chairman, report if a window breaks or comes loose, vegetation is encroaching, or people trespass. Support the Pink House immediately asks the Refuge to act and we very much appreciate when they do.

Folks ask us all the time why she isn't able to be refurbished. The Pink House is federally owned, so while we wish we could do more, there are current limits by which we must abide. We would greatly appreciate your help in spreading the good word that her bones are quite sound and she is being regularly checked on and cared for to the extent of our limits, on behalf of the community, as we work behind the scenes. 

The second item was for Support the Pink House to call another meeting, as we did last Valentines Day 2017, gathering all the people who are invested in finding a solution around one table to discuss the considerable progress we've made and paths to move further forward. That meeting is set for early May and will include The Pink House Steering Committee,  Bill Peterson, Bill Barrett, State Senator and Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, State Senator Kathleen Ives, Morgan Bell, a representative for our district from Congressman Moulton's office, representatives from the Town of Newbury, the Greenbelt, and others. 

​We'll report on all the developments right here! 

Please keep coming to this blog for up to date information, or the public meetings we announce on our Facebook pages Save The Pink House Discussion Group and Support the Pink House. 

 
Support The Pink House just wrapped up another year of fun in the sun and community outreach as part of Yankee Homecoming 2017!
 
It was another truly rewarding experience for us, as steering committee members & volunteers manned our Pink House tent as part of the 10 day Artisan’s Revival at Newburyport’s Annual Yankee Homecoming Festival.  

We are so proud to be a part of this festival, as well as a part of the Revival, which aims to return the festival to its roots by including (exclusively) local artisans, vendors, and community groups like us.  The Inn St Artisan’s Revival was founded by local photographer & visionary John Brown, and this year it included some wonderful additions such as a night of Greek music & dancing in the square by the Greek Food Festival tent, new local food vendor additions including Metzy’s Taqueria, and dozens of fantastic local artisans & live music performances

We also formed a special partnership with The Elephant’s Trunk this year, who graciously invited us to set up our tent right outside their shop, where they were featuring the whimsical & sophisticated Pink House clothing line, designed by artist Ron Emmerling. 

​Highlights of the week included an impromptu lemonade stand created by two young Pink House supporters and their grandmother, the new additions to our clothing & merchandise line including the fabulous dog bandanas, the newly designed t-shirts, the stories we were able to tell booth visitors about the history of the house, and most importantly connecting with visitors and telling them all about the progress we’ve made. 

But the thing that puts a smile on our faces more than anything is hearing the stories about The Pink House from visitors to our booth, who just light up telling us what it means to them! It’s what reminds us why we do all this, and just how special and memorable this iconic house is to fans of all ages. 

We hope to see you all again next year! 

Since summer means many people are either traveling themselves or have guests visiting, we will wait until Fall to resume out monthly meetings.

Support the Pink House is having lots of meetings behind the scenes to help secure The Pink House and move the ball forward. On top of that, we just had a Fundraiser at Flatbread Amesbury and now are preparing for ten days at our second annual Yankee Homecoming booth on Inn Street as part of the Artisans Revival. 

 Anyone interested in volunteering at our Yankee Homecoming booth for 2 hour stints, please write to us at info@SupportthePinkHouse.com or message us on FB at Support The Pink House! We have slots available on days from 9:30-8 PM from 7/31 to 8/7! ​

Support the Pink House had their monthly meeting at PITA Hall on Plum Island last night, May 24, 2017. Steering Committee members were delighted to welcome a host of new attendees who had come from greater surrounding towns from Haverhill to Ipswich and Rowley and Seabrook along with those who attend from Newbury, W. Newbury and Newburyport,  etc...

The theme of this meeting was the history of the Pink House, which surprisingly is so rich, it is far from completed. 

Seen front in the blue shirt is writer Stewart Lytle, who has been a very supportive in faithfully attending meetings and reporting on the considerable progress we've been making. He writes cover articles above the fold on Support the Pink House for the Town Common paper and we really appreciate it!! 

The group turns from the screen at front, where they saw a slide show of the interior of the house and a video of what it's like to be in the cupola to listen to the input of Steering Committee members sitting at the side table: Building and Land Specialist David Dempsey, Founder and Research Director Alison Odle, Creative Director and Artist Leison  Eric Hoover, and Rochelle Joseph, Chair and Outreach. 

Then everyone returned their attention to the flat screen at front to listen to a very intriguing mix of found facts and questions raised by Volunteer and Researcher Extraordinaire Sandy Tilton and  Alison Odle  -- who also put together a really great Powerpoint presentation to support their findings.  Stay tuned as they continue their ace detective work to follow all they've unearthed to the end of the story.

A coffee table book will likely be made including their findings along with all the incredibly photos and paintings of the Pink House that our members and artists near and far have done on this amazing little icon. Check out the many photos posted on our Facebook pages: Save the Pink House Discussion Group and Support the Pink House.  

Plumfest got a beautiful day yesterday for it's island-wide community party. Bands set up on various porches around Plum Island and from noon to 6:00 pm, people ride bikes, drive, take a shuttle buses or walk to enjoy them. The biggest place people can park is the historic Plum Island Airport, where bus after bus lines up to take folks who come from surrounding towns. Support the Pink House felt this was an ideal place to be available to tell folks about the Pink House - which they were about to drive by! We collected signatures in support of keeping her in the community, sold a few tee shirts and bumper stickers - all in the service of raising awareness of her plight, and our successes at working to save her. 

Volunteer Pandora Hoover told us this cute sticker story: A very generous lady overpaid for a shirt and two stickers.A bus let off weary but happy people. A three-year-old, who clearly loved the color pink, departed from the crowd and circled around the table. I complimented this cherub's shocking pink sneaks and asked her mom if I could give her an official PH sticker? Mom apologized for being out of cash. "No problem! The lady before you gave extra!" The look on the little girl's face when mom gave it to her was priceless! She carried it with two hands! You've got a new, albeit young, Pink House fan! ​

A second Pink House presence was at the Beachcoma, a great bar and restaurant where we knew everyone on the island would stop at some point in the day. From there we could point out PITA Hall across the street where our monthly meetings are, and anyone who didn't head in to the Coma to see our brochures and stickers on their hostess table right inside the front door, would see the same offered at the Cottage and PI Provisions all within steps of where we were. We are SO appreciative of the island-wide support of our efforts to keep our iconic Pink House standing in the area. It's one of the things that makes the area so special...

Most of the bands play at the houses on Northern Blvd- so it was wonderful when volunteer Gail Whitley called to say she'd love to collect signatures but she was having a band on her own porch - in addition to a tent for Life if Good products. Then she offered that we put a signature clipboard and our brochures on the Table and said to bring a second clipboard so she could walk around and get signatures of those who stopped at her own house! THAT is going the extra mile and we so appreciate that kind of 

All in all it was a wonderful day - the sun was out and there is such a feel good, community vibe on the entire island. Support the Pink House collected nearly 400 signatures and passed out many brochures. 

 There they are! Smiling pals Diane DiGregorio Smith and Sandy Tilton, two volunteers we love, who have been there from the VERY START of Support The Pink House. They are often the first to raise their hands, or show up and boy do they take charge and do a great job!  

During a lovely sunset this evening, Diane and Sandy, joined by Rochelle Joseph, stood outside a book signing held at the Maratime Customs House (who are kind enough to carry our brochures on their card rack too) during Preservation Week, collecting signatures and passing out our newly updated brochures.  Since this event brings people who are interested in history, architecture, and its preservation, we felt that is a perfect group who would want to know about the work we are doing to save The Pink House. 

This week happens every spring, and the Newburyport Preservation Trust is active all year. This from their website:

Preservation Week is an annual community-wide event sponsored by the Newburyport Preservation Trust to celebrate the city's unique architectural legacy. The Newburyport Preservation Trust is a membership organization that brings together people who value the preservation of Newburyport's period architecture, neighborhood ambiance, heritage landscapes,  and authentic historic character. The all-volunteer organization educates, informs, and advocates through its programs, projects, publications, and presence, and is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit corporation.

Both gals came looking pretty in pink - and Sandy is wearing our limited edition Save the Pink House tee shirt (you can get yours by calling Designer and Steering Committee Member Eric Hoover at NBPTART.com at 978-726-7116 or emailing him at ericdouglashoover@gmail.com). Those three pink rectangles mimic the pink house windows which turn pink at every sunset and sunrise and there is a graphic of TPH on the back! Get yours now! 

If you would like to Volunteer for Support the Pink House, just fill out our 3 minute form here on the website under CONTACT.    Thank you!!! 

Bill Barrett, Newbury resident, trusted builder and STPH member, and Pink House Chair Rochelle Joseph were granted an inside look of the house and photographed and filmed parts of it. We were able to see the condition of the interior, as well as cursory inspection of the buildings foundation & framing. This was exciting as few have been allowed into The Pink House, especially since it was purchased by the US Fish and WIldlife Service in 2011.

Barrett’s review was that the interior remains in surprisingly good shape, with minimal water damage and mold. Her "bones - the structure -  is sound. All good news for restoration of the exterior in order to preserve the house.

Rochelle also reported that the Refuge has agreed to clear vegetation 3 feet away from the house to allow for airflow and keep additional spring growth from causing damage. Both the walk-thru and taking care of the invasive vegetation are positive signs that the Refuge is listening to the Support the Pink House cause. Certainly the support for STPH from local, state and federal representatives was a huge step forward! Joseph is working on other line items for the Refuge to further protect the house. Stay tuned for upcoming blog posts on that. 

With a great slide show and video from inside the cupola, Rochelle walked us through the interior of the house. Some terrific architectural character still remains, a pleasant surprise was found by minimal water damage, and the views from the house are as stunning as everyone imagined.

Sandy Tilton is tracing the lineage of the Pink House, and separating fact from stories past down. She has begun gathering great information on past owners and will be reaching out via social media, etc to try to connect with anyone that may have information or photos that they can share it.

Volunteer opportunities! Anyone new to the group was asked for contact info, and a few upcomingneeds are on the table:
BROCHURES:
New brochures are being printed and will need to be distributed to surrounding communities.
Welcoming ideas on locations +/or volunteers to distribute.

YANKEE HOMECOMING (July 30 -August 6);
Volunteer for a shift at the Inn Street booth/table during the week to rai
se awareness, collect donations, sell merchandise and (hopefully) grow the group.

FUNDRAISER;
Mark your calendar for Tuesday, July 11 at Flatbread Amesbury! A portion of proceeds for all pizzas sold (dine-in and take-out) will be donated by Flatbread Co of Amesbury.

To find out more, be notified of upcoming meetings +/or to volunteer LIKE the Facebook page AND fill out the CONTACT US info!

We are grateful to our most AWESOME  volunteer Jivonne Alley, who is our guest blogger this month, for doing such  great job condensing the formidable information from the two hour meeting and for taking fantastic photos all along the way. 

We've been VERY PRODUCTIVE through the dark winter days. Theres been a lot of progress shift us to the next level in these dark winter days - and there is much to tell!! 
​
This month we will have talk about our second annual walk through of the house with Bill Barrett, our HIC/CSL builder and a long time local resident, as well as the Refuge Manager.  

​BONUS: We will present a small slideshow of showing some of the house inside, a rare glimpse of the mysterious and beloved landmark. And we hope to show you a video of what it's like to be in the cupola - taken on one of the windiest days of the year (short of last week's powerful Nor'Easter!)

​We will also review the major step forward we reported on last month, for those who were not able to attend --the big Valentines Day meeting at the Refuge that Support the Pink House set up. You can read about in our last blog post by guest blogger Stewart Lytle, a local reporter for the Town Common.  ​

These meetings are set up for both volunteers to keep up on the important info, and participate, as well as for the general public who's interested in learning all the news and having their questions answered.
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You can also buy bumper stickers, tee shirts and sign our petition at the meeting -all of which helps you do your part to help and to spread the word, with very little effort! 

We serve refreshments and snacks, and this month, all who attend will be entered to win a gift card at the end of the meeting (must be present to win).  So put it on your calendar - Spread the news!  and March is Bring A Friend Month. See you in 2 weeks! 

The next meeting, on April 26, will  give you a peek at the research being done on the house's history. If any of you have memories of the house, or know someone with area history  - whether it's a wealth or a tid bit - please bring them!