PORT ANGELES — Hundreds of area residents turned out Saturday at the second annual Jammin’ in the Park celebration at Waterfront Park in downtown Port Angeles to enjoy live music, grab a freshly grilled cheeseburger, take a stroll along the waterfront or simply frolic with their dogs in the green grass.
“We are just loving this space,” Steve Zenovic, Nor’Wester Rotary special events officer, said Saturday afternoon.
“Last year, the wind blew like mad. This year is really nice. It is much better.”
The inaugural Jammin’ in the Park last September marked the opening of the $2.5 million downtown park at West Railroad Avenue and North Oak Street in downtown Port Angeles.
The park features two sandy pocket beaches, both with Klallam names, colored-glass markers marking the Olympic Discovery Trail’s transit through the park, sculpture, grassy areas and wide views of Port Angeles Harbor.
This year’s end-of-summer blast offered live bands throughout the day, a volleyball tournament, a beer and wine garden, a food court and a car show.
Proceeds from food and drink sales will provide scholarships to local students and other Rotary projects.
About $6,500 had been raised by early afternoon, Zenovic said, estimating a total of about $10,000 by the end of the event.
“We are doing better than last year,” he said.
Providing college scholarships “is something that we really try to focus on as one of our priorities,” said Mark Nichols, Nor’Wester Rotary past president, who is also the Clallam County prosecuting attorney, during the celebration.
The hope is the students who receive the scholarships will attend college and return to Port Angeles where they become contributing members of the community, Nichols said.
“We really are trying everything we can to help our youth get a leg up when it comes to paying for college, getting out there … and then come back.”
Jammin’ in the Park is the successor of Arts in Action, an annual summer street fair organized for about 40 years by Nor’Wester Rotary, Zenovic said.
During the past 15 or so years, Arts in Action took place on City Pier before being discontinued. The main event was a giant sandcastle competition.
“This is something that the club has decided to do in the aftermath of Arts in Action,” Nichols said, “which Rotary was involved with for years and years. This is an event really designed for Port Angeles. It is not really oriented towards tourists, although we see some of them showing up, and they are welcome too.”
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Features Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56650, or at cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
