SEQUIM — To kick the ball closer to reaching its fundraising goal, Sequim Family Advocates is putting on a big soccer event Saturday, March 19, at Sequim High School that features a matchup between the professional Kitsap Puma Reserve and local team Peninsula United.
The event, called “Sequim Soccer Spectacular,” will start at 12:30 p.m. at the high school’s stadium.
It also will feature a sports gear silent auction, a food court, a Sequim Boys and Girls Soccer Team Penalty Kick Off and live music.
The game will start at 2 p.m.
Adults can get in for $8, youth 12 and younger for $5, and families can get into the event for $15.
Tickets can be purchased at Brian’s Sporting Goods, 542 W. Washington St., or at the gate at the school at 601 N. Sequim Ave.
New playfields
The organization is raising money to build new playfields at the city of Sequim’s Water Reclamation Demonstration Park for use beginning in the fall.
Sequim Family Advocates aims to bump the inventory of Sequim’s declining youth soccer fields, and the group landed a $105,000 Albert Haller Foundation grant, enabling it to break ground on the playfields project in mid-May.
The grant brought Sequim Family Advocates within sight of its $500,000 fundraising goal.
“We are so close, just $40,000 away, and we hope this will push us over the top,” said Colleen Robinson, a longtime Sequim Junior Soccer league mom and board member who is organizing the event with Craig Stevenson, president of Sequim Family Advocates.
Coinciding with the soccer event is the Sequim Day of Shopping, in which more than 20 downtown Sequim merchants have agreed to give between 5 percent and 10 percent of the profits toward the new playfields.
“We decided that we wanted something that involved the community,” Robinson said of the event that will show young soccer players how the adults play. “We really wanted to make it an event that is kind of married with something that we wanted to do.”
The soccer matchup was organized through Andrew Chapman, coach for the Peninsula College Pirates, who also is assistant coach for the Kitsap Pumas.
“He was really instrumental in dealing with the Pumas and the Peninsula Pirates,” Robinson said.
There is room for up to 1,500 spectators at the Sequim stadium.
For more information, phone Robinson at 360-460-5560.
________
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.