WindowFest + WindowLympics 2026
Craftspeople, homeowners and preservation leaders from across the country come to Uvalde's Historic Grand Opera House to learn, demonstrate and compete around real restoration work. Come for one evening, a day trip, a weekend or the whole gathering.
Doors open Thu, Nov 5 · 3 PM
Central Time3 trades
Joinery, carpentry and finishing taught side by side
3h 20m
A six-over-six window fully restored at the 2025 WindowLympics
Since 1988
Keynote Duffy Hoffman's career as a preservation specialist
Sold out
Intro to Sash Making field lab. The other labs have limited seats.
Choose your way in
You don't need to know anything about windows to come. Choose the option that matches how much time you have, and we'll show you exactly what's included.
The national keynote on the history of the window restoration movement, plus exhibits, conversation and evening fellowship.
$39 · $69 for two
ATTEND THE KEYNOTEA full Friday of live teaching across all three trades, a community lunch with the instructors, and the Duffy Hoffman keynote to finish.
$89 · $159 for two
PLAN A FRIDAY DAY TRIPEverything in the Friday Day Trip, plus Saturday's WindowLympics competitions and demonstrations. The best way to see the whole craft in action.
$119 · $199 for two
COME FOR THE WEEKENDThe complete gathering, Thursday to Sunday: every session, WindowLympics, the leadership summit and a personal 90-day action plan.
$197 · per person
JOIN THE FULL GATHERINGSend a leader, an artisan and a steward. Your team gets a pre-event assessment, a guided capacity blueprint and a follow-up implementation meeting.
$697 · team of three
BRING A DELEGATIONWindowLympics day: live competitions, demonstrations, awards and a community celebration in your own downtown.
$49 · per person
COME ON SATURDAYStudent or emerging apprentice? Keynote seats are $25. See student seating →
What happens
Each day has one job. Here's the actual schedule, and which passes include each day.
Presenters and individual session topics may still be refined as the programme is finalised.
WindowFest opens by putting the real problem in the middle of the room: historic-house communities need more people who can do the work.
3:00–5:00 PM
Registration, exhibits & open house
Meet the team, explore tools and demonstrations, and add your community to the WindowFest map.
5:00–6:30 PM
Dinner break in downtown Uvalde
6:30–8:00 PM
Putting Window Craft back into the community
Steve Quillian, Caitlin Visel and invited leaders open with a roundtable on the shortage of local artisan capacity.
8:00–9:00 PM
Dessert, stories & fellowship
Included with: Mission Pass · Delegation
WindowFest sits at the centre of a two-week working activation
01 · OCT 31–NOV 4
Introductory Field Labs
Intro to Sash Making (sold out) and Intro to Window Craft on a real Uvalde house.
02 · NOV 5–8
WindowFest + WindowLympics
The public gathering: teaching, competition, fellowship and commissioning.
03 · NOV 9–13
Advanced Field Lab
Reconstructing the Opera House's missing sash from the evidence left in the frames.
FRIDAY · NOV 6 · 6:30 PM
Historic Grand Opera House
Friday night keynote
Third-generation craftsman · Hoffman P & R, Inc. · Co-founder, Window Preservation Standards Collaborative
The History of the Window Restoration Movement in America, and Where We Are Headed Next
Duffy has worked across the country since 1988 as a preservation specialist, consultant, teacher and master craftsman. He was one of the principal authors of Window Preservation Standards, the national reference on assessing, repairing and weatherizing historic wood windows. On Friday night he looks at how the trade was born, who shaped it, and what has to be passed to the next generation.
Coming with someone? Keynote for two is $69.
Saturday, November 7 · The competitive centrepiece
Artisans compete against the clock, the standard and their own best effort. There are heats for sash making, glazing, mechanics and field carpentry, and the day ends with a team challenge: Make It. Fit It. Glaze It.
THE BAR FROM 2025
At the first Mechanics-to-Prime Gauntlet, a team restored a complete six-over-six window in 3 hours 20 minutes.
Why it matters
Historic windows are being lost because too few people can understand and serve the whole window. Most training teaches isolated skills. WindowFest shows how the three trades fit back together, and how a community can grow the local capacity to keep its buildings in service.
CALL
Invite people who feel drawn to work with their hands and serve historic places.
UNITE
Bring artisans, homeowners, leaders and sponsors around the same real work.
EQUIP
Teach joinery, carpentry and finishing as one complete, repeatable system.
SEND
Send people home with a team, a plan and a first step for their own community.
People + proof
Every person below holds a practical part of the gathering: hosting, teaching, demonstrating, judging or carrying the knowledge forward.
Steve Quillian
Mission & Program Director
Founder, Wood Window Makeover & Artisan Army. Two decades of sash making and restoration.
Duffy Hoffman
Friday Keynote
Co-founder, Window Preservation Standards Collaborative. Forest Park, IL.
Caitlin Visel
Uvalde Community & Host Steward
Director of Arts, Culture & Tourism, City of Uvalde. Artisan Army alumna.
Katie Totman
Attendee Experience & Operations
Historic Preservation Officer, City of New Braunfels. Formerly with San Antonio's Office of Historic Preservation.
Scott Whobrey
Intro to Window Craft Lead
Helped develop the Sash Factory and Window Craft systems since 2008.
John Rodgers
Alumnus Trainer & Facilitator
Phoenix Preservation. Immediate past president, Window Preservation Alliance.
Caitlin Mee
Glazing Demonstrator & Preservation Liaison
Architectural historian, founder of Blue Dog Preservation. Macon, GA.
Jim Baxter
Field Lab Instructor & Demonstrator
Palm Beach WindowCraft. Built his own Sash Factory after training in 2018.
Duncan Brown
Alumnus & Working Practitioner
President, Window Restoration Lawrence. From student to returning contributor.
Where our alumni come from
Texas and far beyond.
Past Window Craft students have come from:
The venue is the classroom
Uvalde's Historic Grand Opera House isn't just where WindowFest happens. It's the project. Four original frames survive, but their wood sash were taken out and replaced with aluminum inserts. The openings are about eight feet tall.
104 W. North St., Uvalde, TX 78801
Passes & prices
Most people travel with a spouse, a friend, a business partner or an apprentice, so the visitor passes have a price for two.
Visitor passes: come for an evening, a day or a weekend
FRI NOV 6 · 6:30 PM ON
$39 / person
FRI NOV 6 · 8 AM–9 PM
$89 / person
FRI + SAT · NOV 6–7
$119 / person$19 less than buying Friday + Saturday separately
Deeper participation: the full four-day gathering
THU–SUN · NOV 5–8
For artisans, apprentices, homeowners and community leaders.
$197per person
THU–SUN · A TEAM OF THREE
For a town, church, historic district, Main Street programme or preservation group. Send a leader, an artisan and a homeowner or steward, and go home ready to act together.
Before the event
Community Capacity Assessment and a recommended learning path for each delegate
At WindowFest
Three complete Mission Passes plus a guided Community Capacity Blueprint
You leave with
A shared 90-day community action plan and a clear split of responsibilities
After the event
A follow-up implementation meeting to turn the plan into action
$697 / team of three
Local community & students
SAT NOV 7 · WINDOWLYMPICS DAY
Live competitions, demonstrations, awards and the community celebration. Admits one person.
$49 / person
COME ON SATURDAYFRI NOV 6 · KEYNOTE
Limited keynote seating for students and emerging apprentices. Student ID or apprentice confirmation may be requested.
$25 / seat
RESERVE A STUDENT SEAT| What's included | KEYNOTE $39 |
DAY TRIP $89 |
WEEKEND $119 |
SATURDAY $49 |
MISSION $197 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday opening roundtable & fellowship | – | – | – | – | ● |
| Friday teaching sessions & demonstrations | – | ● | ● | – | ● |
| Friday community lunch | – | ● | ● | – | ● |
| Duffy Hoffman keynote & fellowship | ● | ● | ● | – | ● |
| Saturday WindowLympics competitions | – | – | ● | ● | ● |
| Saturday awards celebration | – | – | ● | ● | ● |
| Sunday leadership summit & commissioning | – | – | – | – | ● |
| Capacity Field Guide & 90-day action plan | – | – | – | – | ● |
| Price for two | $69 | $159 | $199 | – | – |
Delegations get three Mission Passes plus the assessment, blueprint and follow-up meeting. Field labs are separate, limited-capacity experiences.
Demand is real. The Intro to Sash Making field lab has already sold out.
Book your room early. Uvalde is a small town, and rooms go first during event weeks.
Instant pass. Download your printable PDF pass right after checkout. Show it on your phone or in print.
Plan your visit
📍 ADDRESS
Historic Grand Opera House
104 W. North St., Uvalde, TX 78801
Downtown Uvalde, on the square
🚗 DRIVE TIMES
🕒 TIMES
🏨 WHERE TO STAY
The historic Hotel Seville is in downtown Uvalde, and there are several hotels along US-90 (Main St.). Weekend visitors should book early.
🅿️ PARKING & ACCESS
Free street parking around the downtown square. The Opera House is wheelchair accessible. Contact us about specific needs.
🍽️ FOOD
Friday community lunch is included with the Day Trip, Weekend and Mission passes. Dinner breaks are built into the schedule so you can try downtown Uvalde's restaurants.
Check-in
Bring your PDF pass on your phone or printed. Admission is checked against the purchaser's name and order record. Registration opens Thursday at 3:00 PM.
No. Every day is built so first-time visitors can follow along. Saturday even starts with a spectator orientation that explains how the competitions and scoring work.
The Day Trip is all of Friday: teaching, demonstrations, lunch and the Duffy keynote. The Weekend adds Saturday's WindowLympics. For two people it's $199 instead of $159, so just $40 more for a second full day.
Yes. The Duffy Keynote Evening ($39, or $69 for two) covers Friday from 6:30 PM: the keynote, exhibits, conversation and fellowship. Students and apprentices can reserve a $25 seat.
Yes. The $49 Saturday Community Pass admits one person. If you're travelling with someone for more than Saturday, the Visitor Weekend for two ($199) is usually the better choice.
WindowFest is a working gathering with live tools and competition areas. Children are welcome on Saturday with a supervising adult. Please contact us before buying passes for anyone under 16.
WindowFest is a mission of Artisan Army, and Sunday opens with a Christian worship gathering led by Steve Quillian. Everyone who cares about historic houses and the people who serve them is welcome at every part of the programme.
Passes can be refunded up to 14 days before the event, then transferred to another person by name. Field labs follow their own policy.
No. The introductory labs (Oct 31–Nov 4) and the Advanced Field Lab (Nov 9–13) are separate, limited-capacity experiences. See field labs below.
Go further
WindowFest is the public centre of two weeks of hands-on training in Uvalde. The field labs are where beginners become capable.
SOLD OUT
OCT 31–NOV 4
Five days of field-based joinery: building real sash from raw material.
ASK ABOUT FUTURE DATES
LIMITED SEATS
OCT 31–NOV 4 · ZERO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED
Learn how the sash, frame and mechanics work together, hands-on at the Valdez House in Uvalde.
RESERVE YOUR PLACE
LIMITED SEATS
NOV 9–13
Rebuild the Opera House's missing sash from the evidence: diagnosis, fabrication, fitting, glazing and finishing.
JOIN THE FIELD LABNot ready to buy?
We'll send the final programme, travel tips and any pass updates. Nothing else.
Official trailer · 0:53
The craft, the people and the Opera House in 53 seconds. Then pick your way in.
November 5–8 · Uvalde, Texas
WindowFest opens in — days. Choose your way in today.
Nov 5–8 · Uvalde, TX
Passes from $39
