{"id":33428,"date":"2023-08-10T17:45:12","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T21:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=33428"},"modified":"2023-08-10T17:45:14","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T21:45:14","slug":"virtual-whisky-tasting-will-help-ahs-maintain-national-historic-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/virtual-whisky-tasting-will-help-ahs-maintain-national-historic-site\/","title":{"rendered":"Virtual whisky tasting will help AHS maintain National Historic Site"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pack away your white tie and tails for the year and\u2026 dust off your kilt?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This fall, the Aurora Historical Society (AHS) and the Aurora Whisky Society will join forces to host a Virtual Scotch Tasting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The virtual tasting event, which is slated for October 3, will take the place of the Hillary House Ball as the fall signature fundraiser to help maintain the architecturally-renowned National Historic Site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event will include a tasting package of \u201cfive carefully selected premium whiskies, a guided experience by a master taster from the Aurora Whisky Society, a unique tasting glass, and a virtual presentation from Hillary House National Historic Site,\u201d say organizers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proceeds will benefit the upkeep of Hillary House, the Town\u2019s only National Historic Site, which is owned and maintained by the AHS through fundraising, and grants from funding bodies, including governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe partnered with the Aurora Whisky Society back in 2021 to host the first virtual scotch tasting and we\u2019re coming back to it this year as it was highly successful, and this year we\u2019re focused on some new whiskies and scotches,\u201d says AHS curator Kathleen Vahey. \u201cA big part of it is to integrate the history of the House as well. Even though it\u2019s virtual and we\u2019re not on site, you\u2019re still going to get your little bit of history in there. You\u2019re not only learning about whisky and scotch, but about Hillary House and the history of Aurora.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Societies collaborated on their first virtual tasting at the height of the global pandemic, but even though public health restrictions have loosened, they\u2019re sticking with a tried-and-true format for several reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStaying virtual really does allow us to offer it to a wider group of people, as well as geographically, and they don\u2019t have to worry about getting a ride after because they\u2019re at home and they can enjoy the scotch at home without having to worry about having to get back, so it is safe for everyone involved,\u201d says Vahey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scotch and whisky are potables which, she says, can be appreciated by a wide audience, including those who might not have previously had any connection with the AHS. It\u2019s an opportunity to blend distinctive beverages \u201cand sneak a bit of history in there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHopefully we hook them, they become more interested, and they\u2019re more involved with the organization. It\u2019s a different perspective on museum fundraisers and museum events \u2013 doing events that might pull in an audience that wouldn\u2019t have seen themselves associated with the museum. If you can attract them with something they are already interested in like scotch, and then we can pull them in and get involved with other things \u2013 it\u2019s all about education as well. Not only are we educating them on the intricacies of scotch or history, I think people will be really surprised with how riveting the tasting could be and it opens up other interests they would not have explored before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more than a decade, both in-person and virtual, the Hillary House Ball has served as the AHS\u2019 signature fundraising event. While it is being put on ice for this year, the AHS has not ruled out relaunching the elegant event down the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Ball has been an incredible event and we\u2019re very grateful for the support we have received,\u201d says Vahey. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to shift gears a little bit and redirect resources. We have no definitive answers on the future of the ball or any other fundraiser; we\u2019re a small organization and fundraisers take a lot of resources from us. We\u2019re trying to redirect and give some options for people \u2013 maybe people are more interested in this type of event than a ball. We\u2019re broadening our horizons to see how things go and offer a different kind of fundraiser for people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information on this fall\u2019s virtual scotch tasting, including event tickets and sponsorship opportunities for businesses and individuals, visit aurorahs.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pack away your white tie and tails for the year and\u2026 dust off your kilt? This fall, the Aurora Historical Society (AHS) and the Aurora Whisky Society will join forces to host a Virtual Scotch Tasting. The virtual tasting event, which is slated for October 3, will take the place of the Hillary House Ball […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8Ha","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-24 22:42:12","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33428\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}