Residents of the North Olympic Peninsula will find an array of activities to choose from this week.
The list includes festivals celebrating films, the Dungeness River and dinghies, walks geared to raise money for breast cancer research, a monster truck rally, a blues event for bikers and other events.
Port Townsend Film Festival
The fifth annual Port Townsend Film Festival brings 55 screenings in five venues to movie-goers this weekend.
The three-day event starts today and includes celebrity appearances by singer-actress Jane Powell and child star Dickie Moore, her husband.
Tickets for individual movies are $8 and will be available 15 minutes prior to a screening on a space-available basis.
Festival passes range from $90 for a day pass to $500 for a producer pass.
The festival is centered around the 200 block of Taylor Street, which will be closed to traffic during the weekend.
Information, tickets and a dining tent and beer garden will be available along Taylor Street.
A free outdoor movie will be shown each night on a big screen at the end of the street.
Outdoor musical entertainment will also be available.
A list of films and other information appear in Peninsula Spotlight magazine with this edition of the PDN.
Dungeness River Festival
The two-day Dungeness River Festival kicks off today at Sequim’s Railroad Bridge Park.
The free festival celebrates the beauty of the Dungeness watershed, the historical Railroad Bridge Park and the many people and agencies that help protect watersheds and natural sites in the area.
The festival continues Saturday.
Both days the event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the park located at 2151 W. Hendrickson Road.
To reach Railroad Bridge Park from U.S. Highway 101, take the River Road exit and follow signs to the park and festival.
More information appears on Page 2 of Peninsula Spotlight.
Biker Blues Blast
The fourth annual Biker Blues Blast roars into the Jefferson County Fairgrounds this weekend.
The event, which is open to everyone, begins today at noon and promises a bonanza of blues bands, motorcycle shows, games and vendors.
Thousands of bikers are expected to ride their hogs through the streets of Port Townsend.
Admission is $20, which pays for entrance to the event and tent and RV camping.
A variety of musicians are expected to perform during the Blast, bike games will be played and a number of motorcycle vendors will display goods.
The festival is scheduled to last until midnight Saturday.
All proceeds collected during Blues Blast will be directed toward Combat Veterans International, an outreach program for veterans, and scholarships for students in need.
Sunday morning participants can board a specially arranged 10:30 a.m. ferry at Port Townsend to continue partying at another motorcycle event in Anacortes — the Anacortes Oyster Run.
Monster trucks
A Mini-Monster Trucks show is scheduled for tonight and Saturday at the Clallam County Fairgrounds.
Gates open up at 6 p.m. with the show starting at 7 p.m. each day for the Tournament of Destruction Monster Madness.
A local competition for Tuff Trucks, Quads and Mini 50s.
To enter, sign up by 4 p.m. the day of the show.
Admission is $12 for advance tickets or $15 at the gate for adults, and $8 advance for $10 at the gate for children.
Children younger than 5 are free.
Discount tickets are available at Exxon Food Mart, First and Front streets in Port Angeles, Les Schwab Tires stores in Sequim and Port Angeles, and Thrifty Mart in Forks.
The show is sponsored by Nitro Promotions, Super 8 Motel and Alpine Auto Wreckers.
Home HazWaste Roundup
Clallam County’s annual free Home HazWaste Roundup will be held this weekend.
People are encouraged to bring unwanted, unused household hazardous waste products including pesticides, oil-based paints and stains, thinners and solvents, household batteries, hobby chemicals, cleaning supplies, old gasoline, weed killer, used motor oil, antifreeze and car batteries to be disposed of properly.
Items will be collected free of charge today between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. and Saturday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. at Wal-Mart in Port Angeles.
People in Sequim can dispose of unwanted materials Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Sequim City Shop, 169 Hemlock St.
People should keep products in original containers, label materials not in their original packaging, store materials so they do not tip over or leak during transport and keep hazardous materials away from children and pets.
Explosives, asbestos, leaking or empty containers, compressed gas cylinders, old smoke detectors and business or medical waste will not be collected.
The roundup is sponsored by the state Department of Ecology, Clallam County, cities of Port Angeles and Sequim, KONP Radio and Wal-Mart.
Friends of Olympic National Park
Friends of Olympic National Park’s general membership meeting will be held Saturday.
The public is welcome to attend the meeting which will begin at 2 p.m. in the Olympic National Park Visitors Center, 3002 Mount Angeles Road, Port Angeles.
Bob Steelquist, education and outreach coordinator of Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, will make a presentation on the experience of the first 10 years of the sanctuary, which extends conservation beyond the shorelines of the park out into the Pacific Ocean.
Olympic National Park Superintendent Bill Laitner will talk about the ongoing process for developing the general management plan for the park’s next 10 to 20 years.
A new video of Olympic National Park will also be shown.
New Dungeness Light
A 10th anniversary celebration for the New Dungeness Light Station will be held Saturday.
The free public celebration will be held at Carrie Blake Park in Sequim from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The event will feature live entertainment, food, beverages, a display of the lighthouse, student art, Coast Guard personnel, clowns, games and prizes and a fish and wildlife display.
Dog show
The Hurricane Ridge Kennel Club will host the Agility Trials Dog Show on Saturday and Sunday on the Blake Family Property, adjacent to Carrie Blake Park in Sequim.
Trials challenge dogs and handlers to perform over an obstacle course in a predetermined time limit according to the dog’s size.
This year, 287 dogs have been entered in the competition, but some dogs will make more than one run.
The competition starts at 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday at 8 a.m. and is free for spectators.
‘Hennessey Street’
Two readings of a one-act play this weekend will benefit area residents by fulfilling a goal of the Clallam County Literacy Council — providing books for those in need.
The play, titled “Hennessey Street,” was written by Port Angeles resident Rebecca Redshaw and will performed by four women living in Clallam County on Saturday and Sunday.
The readings will take place Saturday at Peninsula College’s Little Theatre, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd., at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 525 N. Fifth Ave., in Sequim.
A $10 donation is requested and tickets will be sold at the door for each performance.
Cancer walks
Events will be held Saturday in Port Angeles and Sunday in Clallam-Bay Sekiu to raise money to fight breast cancer.
The one-mile Port Angeles Walk for the Cure along the Waterfront Trail begins at 9 a.m. Saturday.
The event is also wheel-chair-accessible.
Registration begins at 8 a.m. near City Pier and costs $15.
Proceeds from the event will benefit the Puget Sound Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, a major provider of beast health funding in Clallam and Jefferson counties.
The walk is hosted and coordinated by Family Planning of Clallam County, with assistance and volunteers provided by Operation Uplift, a local cancer support organization.
The Clallam Bay and Sekiu post offices are sponsoring the eighth annual Walk for Life on Sunday.
The walk begins at 12:30 p.m. at the Clallam Bay post office.
The 3.1-mile walk links the Clallam Bay and Sekiu post offices.
Walkers get pledges from individuals and businesses to raise money for breast cancer research.
The event will be preceded by a dinner and silent auction beginning 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Sekiu Community Center, 42 Rice St.
Musical entertainment will be provided by The Thirteenth Floor Band.
A basket auction will also be held Sunday, and bluegrass music will be provided by the Glen Price Band.
All proceeds from the walk will go to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle to be used for breast cancer research.
Hadlock Dinghy Festival
The inaugural Lowest Hadlock Dinghy Festival will be held Sunday to celebrate the end of summer and the tourist season in Port Hadlock.
The free event will be held from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. on the Port Hadlock waterfront.
Nonmotorized boat races begin at 2 p.m. at the Lowest Hadlock boat ramp as the tide comes in.
People can enter kayaks, canoes, dinghies, small sailing craft or innertubes in the race.
A barbecue and beer garden will be available and local musicians will play throughout the afternoon.
Tours of the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding will also be available.
People are invited to dress in pirate or marine-related gear.
The festival is co-sponsored by the Ajax Cafe, Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuiling and The Leader newspaper.
No parking is available on the waterfront, so people are encouraged to park at Kivley Center, the shopping area above Lower Hadlock.