PORT ANGELES — A unique circus without tents or animals delighted an audience of 250 who donated a record $91,100 to the Olympic Medical Center Foundation during the 11th annual Hog Wild fundraiser.
The money raised Saturday evening at Field Arts & Events Hall in Port Angeles will go toward the purchase of a neonatal resuscitator for the OMC Children’s Clinic, and to support the OMCF scholarship fund, which has been established to boost the OMC workforce through helping people who want to enter or advance their education in the health care field study at Peninsula College.
“This was one of the most exciting fundraisers that has ever been held in the state,” said Bruce Skinner, executive director of the foundation. “The fact that we went from $26,000 (the amount raised in 2002) to $91,000 this year is indicative of that.”
Hog Wild Goes to the Circus Presented by North Olympic Healthcare Network and Kitsap Bank offered performances of aerialists, hand balance and rollo bollo artists, clowns and other performers with Cirque du Soleil and Teatro Ziinzanni credentials. That was followed by dinner catered by Kokopelli Grill, a silent auction and a live auction of 11 experiences on and off the North Olympic Peninsula.
EnJoy Productions from Vashon Island provided the circus acts. Kevin Joyce from EnJoy was the auctioneer, while his partner Martha Enson was the emcee for the event.
For more than three decades. Joyce and Enson have hosted, directed, designed, created, produced and performed at more than 2,000 live events, including theater spectacles like Teatro Zinzanni.
“This was a circus without tents or animals — it’s European circus that’s closer to vaudeville in the U.S. in the 1920s,” Joyce said.
The attendees also were entertained by the duo of Todd Ortloff and Amanda Bacon.
Several students who have received scholarships through the foundation attended the fundraiser.
The first four funding events of the year for the foundation — Red, Set, Go, an April 13 piano concert, Duck Derby and Hog Wild — have set fundraising records, netting $373,000 between them, Skinner said.
Three foundation events remain. Sonny Sixkiller UW Husky Legends Golf Classic will be July 25-26 at 7 Cedars Hotel and Casino and Cedars at Dungeness Golf Course. The Harvest of Hope Dinner will be at the Guy Cole Events Center in Sequim on Sept. 28, and the Festival of Trees is set at the Vern Burton Community Center in Port Angeles from Nov. 29 through Dec. 1.
For more information, visit www.omhf.org or call 360-417-7144.
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Leah Leach is a former executive editor for Peninsula Daily News.
