CHIMACUM — “Badminton with words.”
That’s how the “Says You!” website describes the nationally broadcast radio game show that will be recorded at Chimacum High School on Sunday.
The show will be at 4 p.m. at the school at 91 West Valley Road.
People are encouraged to arrive as much as an hour early to hear the Unexpected Brass Band, said Arendt Speser, academic director of the Jefferson Clemente Foundation, which is sponsoring the show and which will receive all the proceeds.
Tickets are $25 for general seating and $50 for premier seating in the first four rows.
They can be purchased in Port Townsend at Seal Dog Coffee Bar, in Chimacum at Finnriver Farm & Cidery and online at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4099235.
Some 500 people are expected to enjoy the show while it is taped for later airing. The show airs weekly nationwide; Speser did not know when the Chimacum show would be aired.
“We’re hoping to raise about $10,000,” Speser said.
Proceeds from the show will help fund the Jefferson Clemente Course in the Humanities, a free, college-level humanities course for low-income adults in Jefferson County.
“Says You!” is making its fourth appearance in the community for what has come to be known as “Quips on the Quimper.”
It is a quiz show with different games — much like parlor games — played by two teams.
Its motto is, “It’s not important to know the answer; it’s only important to like the answer.”
Regular panelists Caroline Fay Fox, Murray Horwitz and Barry Nolan will be joined by local dignitaries Paul Magid (Flying Karamazov Brothers and Unexpected Brass Band), Pattie Miles (Paradise Theatre) and Scott Wilson (former publisher of The Port Townsend Leader).
The locals will be mixed in with the regulars, split between the two teams.
The show will be hosted by Dave Zobel, and it will feature music by Matt Sircely with Eric Bogart and Stringology.
“Says You!” came to be taped in Chimacum through the efforts of Lela Hilton, who founded the Jefferson Clemente Program in 1999, one of the two longest running programs — and the only rural Clemente Course in the nation, Speser said.
Hilton is now the national program director for the Clemente Course in the Humanities.
The goal for this event is to raise funds to help eliminate barriers to higher education. Jefferson Clemente Foundation provides tuition, books, food, school supplies and reimbursements for childcare and transportation.
This course is affiliated with the national Clemente Course in the Humanities, which was the recipient of a National Humanities Medal in 2014.
It typically serves between 15 and 20 people who study five humanities topics in a seminar format for six months — a full academic semester.
They meet twice a week for about 2½ hours in Building 202 through an agreement with Peninsula College, which bases its Port Townsend branch there.
The free course is credentialed through Bard College in New York. Those who want to continue higher education can receive credits transferable to other institutions, which are worth upward of $15,000, Speser said.
But such ambitions are not required.
Simple curiosity and an urge to learn are all that are needed.
The goal of the program, Speser said, is to reduce obstacles to higher education and to facilitate community engagement.
“We can serve a broader demographic,” Speser said.
Students range from late teens to those in their 60s.
The course teaches an integrated curriculum of literature, history, philosophy, art and art history, plus critical thinking and writing.
“It’s very discussion based,” Speser said. “It’s modeled on the Socratic method” to help students learn to engage actively in the cultural and civic lives of their communities.
“Beyond that, we are trying to grow the organization,” Speser said.
The foundation runs a monthly community dialogue series at Finnriver Farm & Cidery.
“We’re hoping this fall to offer some master class formats,” Speser said.
To learn more about Jefferson Clemente Foundation or for more information about the show, visit www.jeffersonclemente.org or call 360-912-3874.
________
Executive Editor Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3530 or at lleach@peninsuladailynews.com.
