WEEKEND: Port Townsend’s Fort Worden State Park to host summer celebration Saturday

Fort Worden State Park will host its 2014 Summer Celebration with free activities

Fort Worden State Park will host its 2014 Summer Celebration with free activities

PORT TOWNSEND — If you haven’t been there for a while, or even if you have, Saturday will be an opportunity to rediscover Fort Worden State Park.

Free activities at the Fort Worden 2014 Summer Celebration will include children’s games, open houses of businesses and organizations, guided tours of historic and cultural sites, and live music.

At 5 p.m., the Fort Worden Lifelong Learning Center Public Development Authority and Washington State Parks will celebrate the grand opening of a renovated hospitality desk in Fort Worden Commons.

Capping the day will be Centrum’s season-opening performance of the Nanda acrobatics troupe at 7 p.m. in McCurdy Pavilion. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Tickets for the show celebrating Nanda’s 10th anniversary range from $15 to $40. They are available at www.centrum.org or by phoning 800-746-1982.

A portion of event proceeds will benefit Centrum’s youth programs.

Kids Play Zone activities will include an obstacle course, face painting, hula-hoops, juggling and parachutes.

Free live music is planned from 2 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.

The schedule is:

■ 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. — DJ Caleb Peacock.

■ 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. — World music by Lobo Del Mar.

■ 4:30 p.m. — Unexpected Brass Band.

The food will not be free. Bon Appetit Cafe will serve snacks and non-alcoholic beverages on the Commons Lawn from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The restaurant also plans an a la carte community picnic on the Commons Lawn at 5 p.m. Visitors are urged to bring lawn chairs and blankets.

Those 21 and older can sip local beer, wine and cider in the Beer Garden.

Prices will vary. For details, visit www.fortworden.cafebonappetit.com.

Open houses will offer a variety of experiences — and give visitors an overview of some of what’s available at the park.

What’s at Fort Worden?

■ Centrum — Visitors can check out the Centrum art institute’s summer lineup of artists, concerts, workshops, readings and lectures.

■ Madrona MindBody Institute — Free youth yoga from 2:15 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.

■ Port Townsend Marine Science Center — Free admission to the marine and natural history exhibits. Visitors can join staff at 2 p.m. for an octopus feeding.

■ Peninsula College — Plans for the renovation of Building 202 will be on display.

■ Port Townsend School of Woodworking — Demonstrations are planned by master craftsmen Peter Galbert and Jim Toplin, and birdhouse building will go on all day.

■ Historical buildings tour — Members of the Fort Worden Lifelong Learning Center Public Development Authority will lead walking tours of Fort Worden’s historical buildings from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

■ Commanding Officer’s Quarters — Admission will be free to the historic building.

■ Coast Auxiliary Museum — Admission will be free from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

From noon to 4 p.m., free admission will include entrance to a living history barracks display by the 249th Coast Artillery Corps upstairs in one of the original barracks rooms.

Military vehicles, including a 1942 U.S. Army firetruck, will be on display.

The Coast Auxiliary Museum also will offer its usual Saturday tour of the Harbor Entrance Control Post from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and a guided walking tour of Artillery Hill at 1 p.m.

For more details, visit www.coastartillery.org.

The event marks a partnership between the Washington State Parks system and the public development authority, or PDA.

On May 1, State Parks ceded management to the PDA according to the terms of a 50-year lease signed Nov. 8.

The PDA is overseeing the campus portions of the 434-acre park for educational purposes while State Parks continues to manage the camping, beach and recreation areas.

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