If you walk past the Sterling Hotel at 13th and H streets on Sunday, Jan. 11, and see people in Regency dress, you haven’t stumbled into a time warp.
It’s Jane Austen’s 250th birthday party, put on by the Jane Austen Society of North America, Greater Sacramento Region.
With luck, you’re a reveler in the ballroom, dressed in Austen-era finery, enjoying small plates, stimulating conversation and English country dance in an Austen novel come to life.
“Because it’s her 250th birthday, we decided we’d pull out all the stops,” event Chair Alanna Butterworth says. “We’re hoping to entice people who have not participated yet or who’ve never been to a Regency dance to come and enjoy a warm environment.”
“Our organization is for people who’ve only seen the movies or who have read all her books and love to wear Regency dress,” group co-founder Stephenee Borelli says. “You can be either. We provide for any level of Janeite.”
Borelli fell in love with the English novelist while working on her master’s degree in English and library science at Sacramento State. She took an Austen class with Professor David Bell and realized how amazing the author was—and what a following Austin developed since her death in 1817.
A librarian at Downtown’s central branch library, Borelli started a six-month series on Austen in 2010, giving fans a place to congregate and hear speakers discuss Austen’s six novels. Topics included English country dancing, carriage rides and seafaring.
“The events were attended by 500 unique people,” Borelli says. “When the series was done, we heard from so many people that it couldn’t end.”
Next step involved contacting the Austin society’s North American headquarters about starting a Sacramento chapter. The U.S. organization is sister to the Jane Austen Society UK, which maintains Austen’s home and boasts close to 6,000 members.
Borelli and Nina Edmonson co-founded the group in 2011 and rolled out programming the following year.
Today Greater Sacramento Austins have 90 primary members and put on about 40 programs a year. Events include cooking and movie fan clubs, a writing group and annual events such as Austen’s birthday celebration in January.
“We’re beautiful and homegrown,” Borelli says. “Other regions go all out for every single program. Because ours are small, we can have tons of them. We’re not super flashy, but we provide excellent discussions, activities and field trips.”
Many events are virtual—a holdover from the pandemic that allows people to join if they’re homebound or in a different city. The group offers essay and filmmaking contests for young people to hook the next generation.
“We want people to discover her, love her and find solace in her,” Borelli says. “Being a member is a great way to support Jane Austen the person and in scholarship in perpetuity. We’re custodians of her legacy.”
Butterworth says, “You can learn a great deal about life from Jane Austen. It’s not just chick flicks. She writes about deep, meaningful things that are relative to today.”
For information, visit jasnasac.org.
Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento.
