PORT ANGELES — Seven inns. Eleven chocolate makers. It looks to be a memorable day for the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra.
The symphony’s Music and Chocolate Tour this Saturday, a new event dreamed up by board member LaNice Korus, brings a mix of pleasures together in the space of a few hours.
It will have some of the area’s prettiest bed-and-breakfast inns, with gardens blooming lavishly, live chamber music played inside each, and chocolate treats presented to everyone who stops by.
Tickets to the event, a self-guided circuit for participants, are $20 per person.
The tour includes visits to the Eagle’s Flight, Eden by the Sea, George Washington Inn, Sea Cliff Gardens, Dungeness Barnhouse, Domaine Madeleine and Clark’s Chambers B&Bs.
And at each inn, chefs from local kitchens — Alder Wood Bistro, Raindrop Desserts, C’est Si Bon, Northwest Fudge Co. and seven others — will lay out samples of their chocolate desserts.
As patrons arrive at the tour stops, local musicians will serenade them with mellow selections.
“I’ll have a couple of surprises, too,” Korus added.
“I just think this will be fun and different — and informative about the B&Bs.”
The innkeepers on the tour, naturally, are eager to show off their spring looks.
“The gardens are ablaze with thousands of daffodils and tulips,” said Berta Warden, operator of the Dungeness Barnhouse at 42 Marine Drive, north of Sequim.
During the tour Saturday, Alison Maxwell and a quartet will play, and Lippert’s and Cameron’s Café of Sequim will offer chocolate treats.
Evelyn Brown, who with her husband, Dave, run Eden by the Sea inn at 1027 Finn Hall Road, also has been busy beautifying her garden.
“We love the symphony, and we wanted to support it,” Brown said.
She added that panoramic water views surround her place, so patrons can nibble on confections from Yvonne’s Chocolates while watching ships go by on the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
“It really is an Eden out here,” Brown said.
“We are really blessed,” added symphony executive director Mark Wendeborn, in that board members such as Korus come up with “fresh and fun opportunities for our loyal patrons to support the orchestra without having to spend a great deal of money.”
The Music and Chocolate Tour is also a kind of progressive concert, with symphony musicians Selby Jelle, Marie Meyers, Carolyn and Ray Braun, Anna Prorak, GiGi Grier and Maxwell playing at the various inns.
Tour tickets are limited to 175 and may be reserved by phoning the Port Angeles Symphony office at 360-457-5579.
More details about the orchestra and other forthcoming events is at www.PortAngelesSymphony.org.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3550 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
