West End Thunder drag races, benefits, gardening tips and concerts are among the attractions on the North Olympic Peninsula this weekend.
For more about the characters at Deena’s Doggie Daycare in “BARK! The Musical,” opening tonight for a three-week run at the Key City Playhouse in Port Townsend — and other stories on arts and entertainment on the Peninsula — see Peninsula Spotlight, the Peninsula Daily News’ weekly entertainment guide, in today’s PDN.
Other major weekend events are spotlighted in the Things to Do calendar, available exclusively online at www.peninsuladailynews.com.
Here are some of the highlights for this weekend:
FORKS/WEST END
West End Thunder
FORKS — West End Thunder drag races will roar down the runway at the Forks Municipal Airport on Saturday and Sunday.
Gates will open at 8:30 a.m. Saturday and at 9 a.m. Sunday, with racing beginning at 10 a.m. both days.
Drag race entries vary from everyday vehicles to street-legal hot-rods to motorcycles to pros (non-street-legal vehicles).
The Show and Shine is a way to see many restored and unique vehicles up close.
Cost per day is $10 for attendees, $15 for show car and drivers, $15 for show motorcycle and riders and $30 per race car and driver.
Children younger than 12 are admitted free.
The next race weekend, which will also be the final one for the season, will be Sept. 10-11.
For more information, phone 360-640-1366, email westendthunder@yahoo.com or visit www.westendthunder.com.
Rainforest Run
FORKS — Motorcyclists will begin gathering at 4 p.m. today for the fourth annual Rainforest Run that will continue until noon Sunday.
The event at Cycle Camp, 1071 Mora Road, will be open to both motorcyclists and those without motorcycles.
Admission, on-site camping and music will be free.
All motorcycle makes and models including customs, stock, fully dressed, bare-boned beaters, one-cylinder or 10-cylinder, trikes, bikes, mopeds and bicycles are welcome.
Food vendors, a beer garden, a tattoo contest, a poker run, a fun run and a bike show are planned.
Motorcycle registration will be $35 at check-in.
For more information, phone 360-374-8665, visit www.rainforestrun.com or email info@rainforestrun.com.
Kids’ Salmon Derby
SEKIU — The annual Clallam Bay-Sekiu Lions Club’s Kids’ Salmon Derby is Saturday.
There is no entry fee for the derby.
Derby registration will begin at 5:30 a.m. at Van Riper’s and Olson’s resorts.
Participants must weigh in their catch by noon near the Lions Club swings next to Olson’s Resort in Sekiu.
Prizes and refreshments will be provided.
For more information, phone 360-963-2442.
PORT ANGELES
Supply giveaway
PORT ANGELES — Students in the Port Angeles School District can get school supplies, haircuts and barbecue Saturday.
The school supply giveaway for families in need will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Jefferson Elementary School, 218 E. 12th St.
Proof of income is not required.
Supplies donated by businesses and individuals will be distributed, while Sodexho Food Services hosts a barbecue and haircuts are provided by The Hair School.
Families also can get assistance in accessing other services they may be able to use.
Supplies are available for students from elementary through high school.
Donors can drop off supplies at Port Angeles School District offices, 216 E. Fourth St.; make a donation of cash for purchase of supplies to Parent Line, 301 Lopez Ave.; or host a booth at Saturday’s event to distribute supplies and/or information.
For more information, phone 360-457-8575.
‘Sing Out’ benefit
PORT ANGELES — Olympic Community Action Programs’ Arts & Mind Memory Wellness program will present a “Sing Out for Memory” benefit singalong Sunday.
The benefit will be at 2 p.m. at St. Andrew’s Church, 510 E. Park Ave.
Donations will support the Arts & Mind Memory Wellness program, which provides support for family and friends concerned with early memory loss.
The program was a 2010 Clallam County Public Health Hero Innovative Program Award winner.
For more information, phone Jim Couture at 360-457-6801 or email jcouture@olycap.org.
Benefit for Dan Spicher
PORT ANGELES — A spaghetti-and-auction benefit for Dan Spicher, who has stage four Hodgkin’s lymphoma, is set Saturday.
The benefit will be from 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. at the Vern Burton Community Center, 308 W. Fourth St.
Admission to the dinner and auction is $10, while children age 5 and younger will be admitted free.
The event is organized by friends of Dan and Jessie Spicher who call themselves the Angels for Dan.
The angels aim to raise funds for the couple’s medical and living expenses, since Dan has had to leave his recently landed job at Westport Shipyard.
Items at the silent and live auctions include two Kenmore Air round-trip tickets between Port Angeles and Seattle, a Northwest Expeditions cruise out of Port Angeles Harbor, a trip for two to Victoria, a half-day of kayaking or mountain biking from Adventures in Kayaking, 18 holes of golf for four players at the Cedars at Dungeness and a Zoom teeth-whitening treatment from Irwin Dental, as well as front-row seats at a Seattle Seahawks game, handmade quilts, beauty treatments and gift certificates from local shops such as Country Aire Natural Foods.
To reserve tickets in advance, phone 360-457-9766.
Book-signing set
PORT ANGELES — North Olympic Peninsula historian Mavis Amundson will sign her books at Lake Crescent Lodge from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
Amundson is the author of the true-crime book The Lady of the Lake as well as The Great Forks Fire and Sturdy Folk.
Lake Crescent is the setting for The Lady of the Lake, a story about a murdered woman whose body was found floating in its pristine waters in 1940.
The discovery captured the public’s imagination, and the murdered woman became known as the “Lady of the Lake.”
The Great Forks Fire tells of an enormous and fast-moving forest fire that swept toward Forks in 1951.
Heroic efforts by its citizens, and not a small amount of luck, spared the town.
Amundson’s first book was Sturdy Folk, a collection of memoirs describing life on the Peninsula in the early days of the 20th century.
Amundson’s books are published by Western Gull Publishing, a division of the Peninsula Daily News, where she formerly worked as an editor.
She now lives in Seattle.
Roller derby raid
PORT ANGELES — Port Scandalous Roller Derby will hold a Roller Raid takeover of All About Pizza, 902 E. First St., from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. today.
Team members will sell Port Scandalous Roller Derby merchandise and tickets for Saturday’s Monster Brawl bout at the event.
A portion of proceeds from pizza sales also will go to the team.
For more information, phone All About Pizza at 360-417-1234.
Cooking demo slated
PORT ANGELES — A stir-fry cooking demonstration is planned at the Port Angeles Farmers Market on Saturday.
The market and Nash’s Organic Produce will host the demonstration from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at a booth next to the stairs on the west side of The Gateway pavilion at the corner of Front and Lincoln streets.
The demonstration is free to the public, and samples of the foods being cooked will be available for tasting.
Nash’s farm chef, Karolina Tracz, will demonstrate methods of stir-frying with local grass-fed beef from Clark Farms, Nash’s pasture raised pork and locally grown vegetables.
“Encouraging folks in our community to buy locally produced food is a large part of the market’s mission,” said market manager Cynthia Warne.
“However, if people aren’t sure how to prepare simple, delicious meals with the foods they buy at market, they aren’t likely to try them,” she said.
The Port Angeles Farmers Market is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays year-round and from 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays in the summer.
For more information, visit www.farmersmarketportangeles.com/market.
SEQUIM
Winter gardening
SEQUIM — Veteran Washington State University Master Gardener Bob Cain will explain how to put in a winter vegetable garden at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Cain will speak at the “Class Act at Woodcock Garden” educational series at the Master Gardeners’ Woodcock Demonstration Garden at 2711 Woodcock Road in Sequim.
Cain will discuss fall soil preparation, planting timing and local climate, what vegetables can be grown, varieties suitable for the Olympic Peninsula and ideas to help growth during the cooler months in order to extend the growing season.
The 2009 Master Gardener Intern of the Year, Cain has grown vegetables since his early teens in Scotland, Ireland, Colorado and Washington state.
He is the manager of the Woodcock Demonstration Garden and the vice president of the Master Gardeners Foundation of Clallam County.
For more information, phone 360-417-2279.
Teacher giveaway
SEQUIM — The first 100 teachers to visit the Sequim Staples store from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday will receive a reusable lunch bag filled with pens, eraser caps, note tabs, a one-subject notebook, glue sticks and sticky notes.
The store is located at 990 A E. Washington St.
Teachers will also receive a coupon sheet with savings on classroom supplies.
Thrift shop open
SEQUIM — The Sequim Dungeness Hospital Guild’s Thrift shop, Second and Bell streets, will be open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
The store will feature summer fashions and lots of accessories for the home. All white-tag items will be marked at half-price.
Volunteers are needed to help at the store.
For more information, phone 360-683-7044.
PORT TOWNSEND/JEFFERSON COUNTY
Hugelkultur events
QUILCENE — The first of two free workshops on Hugelkultur, a method of turning woody yard debris into self-fertilizing raised garden beds, will be offered Sunday.
The workshop will be from noon to 4 p.m. at Quilcene’s Serendipity Farm.
A second workshop will be from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18, at Port Hadlock’s Sunfield Farm.
All are welcome, and no registration is required.
Jefferson County Conservation District Manager Al Latham and Public Works Solid Waste Coordinator Al Cairns will lead the hands-on workshops and demonstrate how to create a fertile garden from “waste” materials that are readily on hand and usually free for the taking.
A farm-grown lunch will be served at the Serendipity Farm event for $10, and strawberry shortcake is planned for the Sunfield Farm event.
The first 100 attendees will receive a free canvas tote bag, compliments of the Jefferson County Farmers Market.
These workshops are a partnership between the Jefferson County Department of Public Works, the Jefferson County Conservation District and the Jefferson County Farmers Market Association, along with Serendipity Farm and Sunfield Farm.
For more information, phone Cairns at 360-593-8941 or email acairns@co.jefferson.co.wa.
Rhythm circle
PORT TOWNSEND — A TaKeTiNa rhythm circle is planned at the Madrona MindBody Institute at Fort Worden State Park, 200 Battery Way, from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. today.
Zorina Wolf will lead the circle while Jane Erskine of Whidbey Island plays the surdo.
Admission is on a sliding scale from $15 to $25.
For more information, phone 360-681-5407 or 360-344-4475.
Information about the TaKeTiNa rhythm process is on Wolf’s website, www.VillageHeartbeat.com.
Forest Owners Field Day
PORT LUDLOW — Washington State University Extension will hold Forest Owners Field Day at the Palmer Family Forest, 1522-A Larson Lake Road, on Saturday.
Gates open at 8 a.m., with the event running from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The event will include classes and activities led by experts in forest health, wildlife habitat, soils, fire protection and timber and non-timber forest products.
There will be vendors and displays.
Registration at the gate is $30 per person and $40 for a family of two or more.
For information, visit www.jefferson.wsu.edu.
Getting rid of clutter
PORT TOWNSEND — Pilgrimage Port Townsend will present “Creating Sacred Spaces,” a day of delving into the reasons people cling to clutter and practical ways to let go of stuff, on Saturday.
The event will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Port Townsend Community Center, 620 Tyler St.
To ensure a place, participants were to register by Wednesday.
They also were asked to bring a sack lunch or plan to pick up lunch at the farmers market at the midday break and to wear comfortable shoes since the program includes short walks in the neighborhood around the center.
Cost of the full-day program is $55.
For more information and registration, visit www.pilgrimagept.com or phone 360-477-0355.
Film classic screened
PORT TOWNSEND — The last Friday Night Flicks at the Fort event of the summer will screen Steven Spielberg’s classic “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
Gates will open at Fort Worden State Park at 8:30 p.m. tonight with the movie starting about 9:15 p.m.
Suggested donation is $5.
A Discovery Pass for parking is not required.
In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked “Raiders of the Lost Ark” 66th on its “Greatest Movies of All Time” list.
The Friday Night Flicks series is supported by Vintage Hardware, Port Townsend Paper Corp., Friends of Fort Worden, Port Townsend Hospitality Inc., Frederickson Electric and the Port Townsend Film Institute.
Wordstock benefit
PORT TOWNSEND — Wordstock, a fundraiser celebrating words and music, will be held at 5760 Hill St., starting at noon Sunday.
Admission is a suggested donation of $10.
Proceeds will support Port Townsend’s nonprofit Boiler Room.
Bring a blanket or chair for lawn seating.
Those interested in performing can phone 360-385-7654.