More best bets across the Peninsula this weekend

Port Townsend Film Festival . . .

Festivals in Port Ludlow and Port Hadlock . . . plus Victorian home tours in Port Townsend . . .

Grape stomping, music and contests at Olympic Cellars winery on Saturday . . .

Port Angeles Senior Games and the Salt Creek Invitational cross-country meet . . .

Plus art and music, including the Port Angeles Symphony’s “Concert and Cruisine” on Saturday and Sunday featuring James Garlick and Jeffrey Savage . . .

The North Olympic Peninsula is once again chock-a-block with events for every taste and interest this weekend.

Many of the events are highlighted in today’s Peninsula Spotlight.

Peninsula Spotlight is the Peninsula Daily News’ weekly entertainment guide, published every Friday.

Many events are also listed in “Things to Do This Weekend,” appearing today by clicking on CALENDAR at the left.

Here are additional best bets for this weekend:

Health fair in Sequim

You can learn your blood pressure, pick up armloads of health information and maybe even win a gift or two in drawings at the third annual Olympic Peninsula Health Fair in Sequim on Saturday.

Admission is free.

The event will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Sequim High School gym and cafeteria, 601 N. Sequim Ave.

The first 200 visitors to the health fair will get pedometers; the first 250 will get first aid kits.

Other free items will be given away.

Fifteen separate health screenings will be available covering sleep disorders, feet, bone density, spine, lymphedema, blood pressure, dental, blood sugar, vision, hearing, cholesterol and more.

More than 120 exhibitors will have informational booths and demonstrations.

Food booths will sell healthy fare.

Drawings for gifts will be held throughout the day. Sears of Sequim is donating a treadmill that will be given away.

“This day is truly for you, to join with others and move down the path to a healthier life,” said John Beitzel, one of the heath fair’s organizers and a member of the Sequim City Council and Clallam County Board of Health.

Party in Carrie Blake

Mexican Independence Day will be celebrated with homemade tamales, enchiladas and other traditional dishes on sale at Carrie Blake Park, 202 N. Blake Ave., Sequim, from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

The Mexican Folk Dancers of Sequim, a group of performers age 7 to 21, will take the stage at 5 p.m.

Tickets to the show are $12; $10 for seniors; $8 for students; children 5 and under free; family discounts available at the gate.

A public dance featuring Cash, a Mexican band from Seattle, will follow at 8 p.m. in the park’s Guy Cole Convention Center.

Admission to the dance is $15 per person, $20 per couple.

Tickets are available at El Cazador and La Palomas restaurants in Sequim and at the door.

Kayaking in PT

The West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium, one of the largest annual paddling events in the country, will offer more than 50 clinics, lectures, on-water classes taught by certified instructors, plus exhibits and retail booths, gear demos and music.

It’s at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday.

Registration for all three days is $130. A one-day pass is $65 and a one-day, beach-only pass is $30.

For more information, go to www.wcsks.org.

Top tomatoes, dahlias

Peninsula gardeners are invited to enter the Clallam County Tomato Taste-Off and Dahlia Show on Saturday.

The event will be held 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Port Angeles Farmers Market in the county courthouse parking lot, Fourth and Peabody streets.

“Best Taste of 2006” will be awarded to the top tomato, along with “fame and fortune to the top grower in the county,” says market manager Karen Bert.

There will also be categories for largest, most unusual and ugliest tomato.

Winners will receive gift certificates for farmers market products.

Local dahlia growers are invited to show off their best flowers.

The public will be able to vote for the “People’s Choice” favorite flower and reserve their choices for next year’s tuber pre-sale.

Other activities on Saturday include a chili and cornbread fundraiser and entertainment with local musicians.

Children will be able to take a whack at a pi^pbata filled with treats.

For more information, phone Bert at 360-928-0214.

Toy run Saturday

Donations of toys are being sought for Clallam County Motorcycle Club’s annual Toy Run on Saturday.

Riders register at 1 p.m. at 7 Cedars Casino, then proceed to toy donation locations, including 7 Cedars; Oak Barn; Sequim and Port Angeles Wal-Mart stores; Schuck’s Auto Supply and Jackpot Food Mart on West First Street.

The run will conclude at the Salvation Army, East Second and Peabody streets in Port Angeles, with dinner for all the participants.

Donations of toys may be made at all the locations until 4 p.m. on Saturday, or any time at the Salvation Army.

For additional information, phone Cindy Romberg, 360-417-1679, or Verna Yaun, 360-460-5259.

Rotary bulb sale

More than 35,000 bulbs — daffodils and tulips, more than 90 different varieties and colors from the earliest snowdrops to the largest allium and fritillaria, are the highlight of the Port Angeles noon Rotary Club’s Sixth Fall Bulb Sale.

The event will be today and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Gertie’s Market, First and Washington streets, in Port Angeles.

The sale raises money for the noon Rotary Club’s scholarships and community projects.

Music in Sequim

Sequim City Band will present their final 20006 Concert in the Park at 3 p.m. on Sunday.

This 60-piece will get your toes tapping at 3 p.m. at the state-of-the-art James Center for the Performing Arts stage in the Water Reuse Demonstration Park, just north of Carrie Blake Park.

Bring a lawn chair or blanket to sit on for Sunday’s performance.

Sewing ideas and tips

It will be a day full of sewing tips and techniques as National Sewing Day is celebrated at Viking Sew & Vac, 707 E. First St., Port Angeles, from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

The public is invited to come for an hour or spend the day for demonstrations and ideas that will help new and experienced sewers express their creative spirit.

Topics will include how to use a smocking pleater or create perfect quilt bindings.

The American Sewing Guild Silverdale Chapter will host the event.

The guild has more than 20,000 members in 130 chapters across the nation.

The mission of the Guild is to advance sewing as an art and a life skill.

The Silverdale Chapter has several neighborhood groups meeting in Port Angeles and Sequim.

For more information about this event or the American Sewing Guild phone Mary Ann Miller, 360-457-8460, or e-mail: gamamary@msn.com.

‘Shakespeare on a Nickel’

On Saturday and Sunday, the Peninsula College Players will continue presentations of an abridged version of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.”

Admission: 5 cents.

The group is putting on 13 performances of “As You Like It” in Port Angeles, Sequim, Joyce, Forks and Port Townsend, presented without frills, a few feet from the audience, “both to accentuate its humor and to find contemporary ways of understanding love,” says Players director Matt Vadnais.

“We haven’t updated the play so much as we’ve tried to find contemporary ways of working the way that Shakespeare worked, largely without sets, relying on actors to make the familiar strange and the strange familiar.

The remaining performances:

* Port Angeles:

Saturday — Jessie Webster Park, Third and Eunice, behind Swain’s, Noon.

Sept. 20 — Port Angeles City Pier, 3:30 p.m.

Sept. 27 — ASC BBQ patio behind the Student Union building (PUB), Peninsula College, Noon.

Sept. 29 — Challenge Course, Peninsula College, Noon.

* Sequim:

Sunday — Orchard at Nash’s Farm Store, 1873 East Anderson Road, 2 p.m.

Sept. 21 — Pioneer Park, corner of Washington and Sequim Avenue, Noon.

* Joyce:

Sept. 19 — Salt Creek Recreation Area, 2 p.m.

* Forks:

Sept. 23 — Tillicum Park, 420 Tillicum Lane, Noon.

* Port Townsend:

Sept. 30 — Peninsula College, Fort Worden, 298 Battery Way, Noon.

Cruise? Tour?

Michael Swirski of Seventh Wave Yacht Charters (360-808-0505; www.shadowfox7.com) will take you on a two-hour outing aboard his 45-foot ketch Shadowfox in Port Angeles Harbor and, weather willing, in the Strait.

He also takes charters to Sequim Bay, Port Townsend, Victoria, Neah Bay and the San Juans.

Will Nelson operates All Points Charters and Tours, a full-service tour and charter company serving Clallam and Jefferson counties with day tours to Lake Crescent, Hurricane Ridge, Hoh rain forest, Makah Tribal Center, wineries of the North Olympic Peninsula and trips elsewhere in the state.

The company also provides custom transportation for any size group, for any purpose, to anywhere in Washington — plus it will make arrangements for business meetings, weddings and other events (including catering, tours, accommodations and arrangements for meeting rooms, entertainment and golf tournaments).

To book a tour, or for more information, click on www.goallpoints.com, phone Nelson at 360-565-1139 or e-mail him at tours@goallpoints.com.

More in Life

Tim Branham, left, his wife Mickey and Bill Pearl work on a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle entitled “Days to Remember.” The North Olympic Library at its main branch on South Peabody Street in Port Angeles sponsored a jigsaw puzzle contest on Saturday, and 15 contestants challenged their skills. With teams of two to four, contestants try to put together a puzzle in a two-hour time limit. Justin Senter and Rachel Cook finished their puzzle in 54 minutes to win the event. The record from past years is less than 40 minutes. The next puzzle contest will be at 10 a.m. Feb. 8. (Dave Logan/for Peninsula Daily News)
Piece by piece

Jigsaw puzzle contest in Port Angeles

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