PORT ANGELES — Organizers of the downtown spruce-up project will celebrate the “new Port Angeles” July 11 even though more work remains to be done.
“Our Community at Work: Painting Downtown” volunteers will kick off the celebration by cutting a ribbon at 1 p.m. at Front Street between Lincoln and Laurel streets.
Afterward, the Port Angeles Food Bank and the Dawg Cart will cook hot dogs and serve lemonade to the public free of charge. Volunteers will serve cake.
The celebration will coincide with the unveiling of four new exhibits as part of the city’s outdoor art gallery.
Architect Charlie Smith, who has designed the new paint schemes for all of the newly painted buildings, will provide a free tour of those spruced-up structures every hour.
Buildings painted
About 15 buildings and storefronts have been painted by volunteers and professional crews since the project began about May 1, and about nine more paint schemes are in the works, said Jan Harbick, project co-chairwoman and Port Angeles Downtown Association vice president.
“We will just keep going until we are done,” she said.
Nearly 3,000 volunteer hours have been tallied so far, Harbick added.
Some of the work includes a mural on the alley side of Alley Cat Boutique and Weisfield’s Jewelers and painting the Budget-Rent-A-Car location and the Old Elwha Theater across the street.
Edna Petersen, project co-chairwoman and City Council candidate, said the celebration will occur before everything is done, because the organizers need to give credit to the volunteers for what has been accomplished.
“The enthusiasm is so overwhelming,” she said. “We needed a party to celebrate how far we’ve come.”
Adopting buildings
The project consists of the volunteers, or building owners themselves, adopting a building, which they clean and usually paint in order to spruce up the look of the city, mainly downtown.
It began as a way to brighten the downtown in preparation for the reopening of the Hood Canal Bridge last month, but it has taken on a life of its own.
Paints, equipment and supplies are donated or provided at a discount by local stores.
When building owners adopt their own properties, they can either do the work themselves or hire contractors.
New paint schemes
The new paint schemes are designed by Charles Smith of Lindberg & Smith Architects and Alicia Brewin of Alicia Interiors who donated their time. Each design requires the approval of the building owner.
About 200 volunteers have signed up.
Between 35 and 40 buildings and storefronts are part of the project, but not all are getting painted. Some are simply cleaned or repaired.
And the project is expanding beyond scrubbing and painting.
Beginning next week, 10 “Barrels of Art” and several murals painted by Port Angeles residents will be on display in a vacant storefront at 123 E. First St.
The wine barrels, donated by six local wineries, have been turned into works of art by local artists, said Kathy Charlton, co-owner of Olympic Cellars, which donated four barrels.
In the fall, the barrels will be donated to the Port Angeles Arts Council, she said.
“The goal is to fill the [vacant] windows with displays that talk about what we love about this area,” Charlton said.
“You are going to see a lot of people standing in front of this storefront.”
On top of that, the Port Angeles Light Opera Association will donate sets from local plays to fill several vacant storefronts downtown, and the Dazzled by Twilight store is setting up a prom-dress display at the former Gottschalks location, she said.
The department store, which closed May 30, is believed to be the location where Bella Swan in the book series Twilight went shopping for a prom dress.
During the July 11 celebration, some restaurants will offer locally harvested seafood with their own twist: a chef from Michael’s Divine Dining will demonstrate how to make Dungeness Crab Cakes; Wine on the Waterfront will host its one-year anniversary celebration; and the Red Lion Hotel will host a wine and beer garden.
“I think it’s going to be fun,” Harbick said.
________
Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
