Benefits and thoughtful speakers are among the weekend offerings on the North Olympic Peninsula this weekend.
Here are some of the activities today, Saturday and Sunday. For a longer list, click on CALENDAR at the top of this page.
Astronaut speaks
SEQUIM — Former astronaut Charles Moss Duke, Jr. will speak at the 12th annual Clallam County Prayer Breakfast today.
The breakfast will be from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. at the Sequim Community Church, 950 N. Fifth Ave.
Tickets are $17 per person, or $100 for a table of six.
Duke, one of 19 astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966, served as member of the astronaut support crew for the Apollo 10 flight. He was the capsule communicator for Apollo 11 during the first landing on the moon, and he served as backup lunar module pilot on Apollo 13.
In 1972, he was the lunar module pilot of Apollo 16, the first scientific expedition to the Descartes region of the moon. Duke also served as backup lunar module pilot for Apollo 17.
In 1975, Duke retired to enter private business. He is owner of Duke Investments, and is president of Charlie Duke Enterprises and of President of Duke Ministry For Christ.
“Mockingbird” presentation
Fracaswell Hyman, director of last year’s Intiman Theatre’s production of “To Kill A Mockingbird,” will present “A Director’s Journey” at the Forks and Port Angeles public libraries today and Saturday.
The presentation in Forks, at 171 S. Forks Ave., will be at 7 p.m. tonight, while the Port Angeles presentation, at 2210 S. Peabody St., will be at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Both are free. Catered receptions follow the presentations.
The director’s trip to the Peninsula forms the finale of Clallam County Reads, the North Olympic Library System’s first community-wide reading group.
Adults and teenagers from every corner of the county were invited to delve into To Kill a Mockingbird, a 1960 novel about a lawyer who defended a black man unjustly accused of rape in rural Maycomb, Ala.
Hyman’s “Mockingbird” had its run extended twice before the show finally closed in November 2007. It was the best-selling production in Intiman history.
Hyman is currently directing “The Daddy Machine,” a children’s musical at the Celebration Theatre in West Hollywood, Calif.
His career began in theater, veered into TV and then returned to the stage.
For details about these and other Clallam County Reads events, phone 360-417-8501 or 360-374-6402 or visit www.NOLS.org.
Tails reading
PORT ANGELES — A reading from the Peninsula Friends of Animals’s new anthology is scheduled in the Raymond Carver Room at the Port Angeles Public Library tonight.
The reading from Tails from the Heart: Stories, Poems and Artwork, will be at 7 p.m. at the library at 2210 S. Peabody St., Port Angeles.
It is sponsored by Port Book and News of Port Angeles.
The 200-page anthology contains stories, poems and artwork about companion animals and their owners from 40 writers and artists from around the North Olympic Peninsula and the United States.
Copies of the book are available for $17.95 each and can be purchased at various businesses in Port Angeles and Sequim.
They are also available online at www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com.
For more information, phone Susan Skaggs at 360-582-1643, Ann Gilson at 360-452-2130 or click on www.safehavenPFOA.org.
Agriculture culture
SEQUIM — Farmers from around Clallam County are invited to hear an internationally known organic grower talk about the future of small-scale agriculture — and share their own hopes for a healthy local economy– on Sunday.
Michael Ableman, author of Fields of Plenty, On Good Land and From the Good Earth, will come from his Foxglove Farm on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, to the Sequim Prairie Grange Hall, 290 Macleay Road, for the program from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The event, titled “Re-creating the ‘Culture’ in Agriculture,” aims to bring together the people who “are passionate about a local food and farm system,” said organizer Curtis Beus.
Beus, Clallam County’s Washington State University Extension agent, will host the gathering.
Admission is free, but space is limited and advance registration is required.
For details, phone 360-417-2279.
Garage sale
PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend noon Rotary Club will offer bargains at the Ultimate Garage Sale today and Saturday.
The sale will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the old Courtesy Ford building, 14082 Airport Road.
Proceeds will support scholarships, shelter for the homeless and other Rotary causes, said Mimi Rosenberg, president of the club.
Restaurant Day
Restaurants and coffee shops in four communities have pledged a portion of their proceeds from Friday lunch and dinner meals to the United Way of Clallam County.
The United Way provides funds to 26 nonprofit agencies that provide help with shelter, food, utilities, health care and other services.
It also funds three community initiatives: the 2-1-1 help line, the Access to Health Care Coalition, and the Clallam County Literacy Council.
It has raised $100,000, or 10 percent, of its $1 million goal in the campaign that began in September, said Jody Moss, United Way executive director.
Forty-eight restaurants are participating this year. They are:
• Port Angeles: All About Pizza, Baskin Robbins 31 Ice Cream, Bushwhacker Seafood Restaurant, C’est Si Bon, Café Garden Restaurant, Chestnut Cottage, CrabHouse, First Street Haven, Higher Grounds, Itty Bitty Buzz, Joshua’s Restaurant & Lounge, Landings Restaurant & Dockside Lounge, Michael’s Divine Dining, Necessities & Temptations, Plunkin Shack Cafe, Port Angeles Senior Center Coffee Lounge, Roundup Alatte, Sergio’s Hacienda, Traylor’s Restaurant.
• Sequim: Alder Wood Bistro, Café Blossom, Cedar Creek Cuisine, Cedarbrook Garden Café, Double Eagle Steak & Seafood, Galare Thai, Hi-Way 101 Diner & Pizza, Jean’s Deli, M & G Mariner Café, Moon Palace Restaurant & Lounge, Oak Table Cafe, Pizza Factory, Sergio’s Family Restaurant, Tarcisio Italian Place, The Buzz.
• Clallam Bay / Sekiu: Breakwater Inn, By the Bay Cafe.
•• Forks: Forks Outfitters, Golden Gate, Home Slice Take N Bake, Hungry Bear Cafe, (15 miles east of Forks at Bear Creek), JT’s Sweet Stuffs, Pacific Pizza, Plaza Jalisco, Subway 76, Sully’s Drive-In, South North Garden Restaurant, The In Place, Three Rivers Resort.
Little League dinner
QUILCENE — South Jefferson Little League will host a taco dinner and rummage sale to support the 2009 baseball/softball season in Quilcene and Brinnon.
The dinner will be from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall at the First Presbyterian Church, 294433 U.S. Highway 101.
Cost for dinner is $5 for adults; $3 for children younger than 12; and free for children younger than 3.
Olympic Energy Expo
PORT TOWNSEND — Olympic Energy Systems Inc. will hold its Olympic Energy Expo at the Quimper Grange Hall, 1219 Corona St., from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
A presentation on solar energy will begin at noon, followed by presentations on zero-energy buildings at 1 p.m. and the “Heating Challenge” at 2 p.m.
A photo gallery and energy exhibits will be setup.
This event is free and open to the public.
For more information, phone 360-301-5133, or click on www.olympicenergysystems.com.
Shred event
PORT TOWNSEND — A free community “shred event” will be held at the Port Townsend branch of First Federal, 1321 Sims Way, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.
People are encouraged to bring sensitive documents for on-site shredding by LeMay Mobile Shredding.
Documents can include old tax returns, account statements or any paperwork with account or Social Security numbers or other personal information.
First Federal security personnel will be on-hand to answer questions and provide information on identity theft.
Project Linus benefit
GARDINER — “Make A Difference Day,” a benefit for Project Linus, will be held at the Gardiner Community Center, 980 Old Gardiner Road, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.
Project Linus is a nonprofit organization that provides ill or traumatized children with blankets.
Members of the public are invited to drop off new, handmade blankets that are washable and dryable and bring needles, thread and scissors to help sew on labels and attach string tags to the blankets.
Fabric, fabric scraps, yarn and patterns and be given away.
For more information, phone Pat Gracz at 360-797-7311, or e-mail patgracz@olypen.com; or phone Boni Parker at 360-379-5535, or e-mail parkers@olypen.com.
Home building
PORT ANGELES — Franklin Elementary School students will help build a home during a “Make a Difference Day” project in the Gales Addition.
Volunteers are welcome at the project at 7363 Seventh Ave., said Franklin teacher Linda Plenert.
Franklin students will work from 10 a.m. to about 2 p.m., she said.
The home is one of nine being built through the Mutual Self Help Housing Program of the Housing Authority of the County of Clallam, which requires “sweat equity” from prospective home owners.
Volunteer hours will go toward the account of homeowner Rachel Ringer, whose home is being built at space number 7.
For more information, phone 452-7631, Ext. 22.
‘Orca Extravaganza’
PORT ANGELES — Brent Nixon of Nature Talks will give a presentation during a fundraiser for the Olympic Medical Center’s cardiac services unit and the Uganda School Fund.
The “Orca Extravaganza,” sponsored by Tender Touches Skin Care Spa in Sequim, will be from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Saturday in the auditorium at Port Angeles High School, 304 E. Park Ave.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students.
They are available in Port Angeles at Jace The Real Estate Co., 933 E. First St., and Port Book and News, 104 E. First St.
They can also be purchased in Sequim at Tender Touches, 557 Eureka Way; Pacific Mist Books, 121 W. Washington St.; Let’s Shop, 123 N. Sequim Ave.; Sequim Village Glass, 761 Carlsborg Road; and the Boys & Girls Club, 400 W. Fir St.
Fall fruit show
SEQUIM — The Olympic Orchard Society’s Fall Fruit Show will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
Fruit tasting and information on fruit growing will be offered at the show at Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 Blake Ave., Sequim.
Suggested donation is $3 per person or $5 per family.
Mushroom workshop
PORT ANGELES — Mycologist Thom O’Dell will lead a mushroom workshop today, Saturday and Sunday at the Olympic Park Institute.
The workshop, “Intro to Wild Mushroom Identification on the Olympic Peninsula,” will be at the institute at 111 Barnes Point Road on Lake Crescent from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. today, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 8:30 a.m. to noon Sunday.
Students will learn how to identify wild mushrooms, both the edible and poisonous varieties.
This class is open to advanced students, nature enthusiasts and the general public.
Space is limited to 25 people.
To register, or for more information, click on http://nweec.org/bio-302_10-08_peninsula.html.
O’Dell has more than 25 years experience collecting, studying, growing and eating mushrooms.
He received his doctorate in botany and plant pathology from Oregon State University in 1992 and conducted field ecological studies in Olympic National Park as a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow. O’Dell works for The Remediators Inc., a soil bioremediation company in Port Angeles.
Bingo fundraiser
PORT ANGELES — Laurel Park Assisted Living and Olympic Medical Center Foundation will host the second annual Bingo Night Fundraiser today.
The bingo will be at Laurel Park, 1133 E. Park Ave., at 6 p.m.
All proceeds will benefit the Thomas Family Cancer Center at Olympic Medical Center is Sequim.
Bingo cards are 50 cents each or three for $1. Refreshments will be served. Prizes will be awarded.
For more information, phone 360-417-7144.
Global films
PORT ANGELES — Films from Croatia and South Africa will be featured as part of Peninsula College’s “Global Film Series” today.
The films — “All for Free” and “Bunny Chow” — will be shown in the Little Theater at the college, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd., at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Admission will be $5 per film, with Peninsula College and area high school students admitted free with a current student identification cards.
Sponsors include the Port Townsend Film Festival and Peninsula College’s office of cultural events, Sound of Unity Series and Magic of Cinema Film Series.
Plant clinic
PORT TOWNSEND — The Master Gardeners are hosting a plant clinic today.
The clinic will be from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Food Co-op, 414 Kearney St., Port Townsend.
Master Gardeners will provide information on diagnosing pest and disease problems, identifying plants, sustainable gardening practices and integrated pest management.
For more information, phone 360-379-5610, Ext. 222.
Mushrooms slide show
PORT TOWNSEND — Mushrooms are the topic of a slide show presentation at the Natural History Exhibit at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, Fort Worden State Park, tonight.
The slide show, which will display the characteristics used to identify local fungi, will be from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Admission is $7 a person, or $5 for science center members.
For more information, phone 360-385-5582; e-mail info@ptmsc.org; or click on www.ptmsc.org.
