BLYN — For the 13th year, Dungeness River Audubon Center volunteers will come together with their handcrafted wares and baked goods to support the center’s education programs during the River Center Holiday Nature Mart today and Saturday.
Nature Mart is set for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day at the Red Cedar Hall on the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe campus, 1033 Old Blyn Highway.
Organizers said the move from the River Center in Sequim for the event is temporary this year. They anticipate construction on the park’s new roadway and parking lot.
Volunteer Shirley Anderson said all funds from the fundraiser go back into Sequim.
“It’s not going to some innocuous pool [of funds]; it’s going to the community,” she said.
Volunteer Tuttie Peetz said there will be thousands of items at all price points ranging from jewelry to baked goods to some of her driftwood art pieces.
“Each item is unique and creative,” volunteer Syrene Forsman said.
The tradition of visitors making their wreaths and/or table arrangements continues too. Visitors can bring their own items and include them.
Visitors also can snap their own pictures or have their photo taken with animals from the River Center’s collection for a donation.
Items cater both to the holidays and year-round, including a 2020 calendar showing photos of the Dungeness River Railroad Bridge through the seasons by Ardythe Wendt.
Wanda Schneider donated her “Swimming Salmon” hand-stitch needlepoint in a professional frame for the raffle, with 100 tickets going for $20 each.
Schneider said she’s happy to support the center.
“It’s all about the river and what it supports,” she said. “The river is so important.”
Anderson said organizers have set a goal to fully support the education programs at the River Center each year through Nature Mart, and they’re about one-third of the way there with recent earnings.
“Nature Mart has become quite the event,” Peetz said. “People wait for us to open the doors the day of the event.”
For more information on the River Center Holiday Nature Mart, visit www.dungenessriver center.org, or call 360-681-4076 or 360-683-6860.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
