FORKS — Two days of grand opening events are planned to celebrate the new Rainforest Arts Center on Saturday and Sunday.
The celebration is in conjunction with the annual RainFest celebration, which will be from Friday through Sunday.
The grand opening ceremony for the $2.1 million, 6,300-
square-foot structure at 35 N. Forks Ave. will be at 1 p.m. Saturday.
It will immediately follow the 2015 RainFest Umbrella Parade, which will be at noon on the sidewalks along Forks Avenue.
Art demonstrations and activities, dance lessons, a dance and a movie also are planned.
The new center replaces an arts center in the International Order of Odd Fellows Hall that burned 2½ years ago.
“It’s 98 [percent] or 99 percent done,” Rod Fleck, Forks city planning director, said Tuesday.
Only finishing touches remain, including acoustic finishes on the walls of the main hall, scheduled for June, Fleck said.
“There will be a lot of people in and out late Friday and on Saturday up until the opening,” he said.
The center will be open all weekend for free community events. Donations to the sponsoring organizations will be accepted.
Children will decorate umbrellas and the grand opening ribbon from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at the ICN building, 71 N Spartan Ave., sponsored by the West Olympic Council of the Arts.
The arts center will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for art demonstrations and activities sponsored by the Rainforest Council for the Arts.
At noon, the children will march in the Umbrella Parade from the ICN building to the arts center, where, at 1 p.m., Mayor Bryon Monohon, representatives of architectures and contractors who designed and built the center will cut the ribbon.
Two of Forks’ most senior community members, Dorothy Burr, 86, and Pearl Lucken, 102, will also take part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Fleck said.
A reception with cake and refreshments will follow.
On Saturday night, the center will swing into action.
Free dance classes for will be held from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the arts center, sponsored by Friends of Forks Library and Rainforest Council for the Arts.
Lessons will include instruction in swing dance, the waltz and the reel.
Following the lessons will be a family dance for all ages at the arts center from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., featuring live music by music groups Crescent Blue, Forkestra, Loose Gravel and Therapy Session.
Entry is by donation: $6 per person or $12 per family.
Dessert potluck, silent auction and door prizes will be offered. Proceeds from the dance go the Rainforest Council for the Arts.
The dance is sponsored by Friends of Forks Library and the Rainforest Council for the Arts.
A noon tour of the arts center will open the second day of events, followed by a 2 p.m. showing of the classic movie “Singing in the Rain” sponsored by the Forks High School Drama Club.
Concession sales during the movie will benefit Rebekah Johansen’s summer theater internship camp in Missoula, Mont.
An open-mic talent show sponsored by Rainforest Council for the Arts will be from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the center.
Registration for the talent show begins at 3:30 p.m.
The new arts center has a large entryway that can be configured to be used as a small community meeting room; a main hall with a moveable stage that can be used for performances, wedding receptions or other events; bathrooms; and several storage rooms for the community theater.
A 1,000-foot commercial space is located in one corner of the new building. Proceeds from the rental of the space will go toward building maintenance.
The primary contractor for construction of the arts center was Hoch Construction of Port Angeles.
The groundbreaking ceremony took place in April 2014 at the end of the Umbrella Parade.
The arts center is in both the 1925 Odd Fellows Hall and the adjacent Olympic Pharmacy building, which was most recently occupied by the Dazzled by Twilight souvenir store.
Both were destroyed in an early morning fire Oct. 29, 2012.
The IOOF hall and property, owned by the city, were insured for $3.7 million, and the city received a settlement for $2.64 million to replace the lost structure.
The site of the former Olympic Pharmacy, then owned by Alaska Financial Co. of Anchorage, Alaska, was purchased in September for $60,000 by the West Olympic Council of the Arts and donated to the city to increase the amount of space that could be used for the new community performing arts center.
About 16 years ago, the Odd Fellows organization deeded the Forks building to the city, which worked with the Rainforest Players theatrical troupe to manage the building as a community arts center.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360 452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
