Parks can be visited for free and volunteers can join service projects today to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Here is a sample of activities set to mark the day:
Parks, forest
OLYMPIA — Olympic National Park, Olympic National Forest and state parks will admit visitors for free.
At state parks, a Discover Pass still will be required on lands managed by the state departments of Natural Resources and Fish and Wildlife.
Discover Passes are $30 each. One-day passes are $10 each.
The national park entrance fee is $15 per vehicle for a single visit or $30 for an annual pass.
Port Angeles
MLK 5K Dream run
PORT ANGELES — Serenity House of Clallam County will host the Dream Run, a 5K run and walk, with registration starting at 8 a.m. and the run at 9 a.m.
The course on Olympic Discovery Trail starts at City Pier. Entrants with dogs must have them on a leash.
A donation of $10 per entrant will go toward housing for homeless.
For more, contact Brent Shively at 360-452-1439 or serenityhouse.brent@gmail.com.
MLK trail clearing
PORT ANGELES — Volunteers will remove scotch broom, an invasive plant, along Siebert Creek from
1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
They will meet in the Wild Current Way parking lot off Old Olympic Highway and also do trail maintenance on the Olympic Discovery Trail and the Siebert Creek Conservation Area.
For more information, phone Lorrie Mittmann, stewardship director of the North Olympic Land Trust, at 360-417-1815, ext. 7.
Port Townsend
MLK work party
PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend Marine Science Center and AmeriCorps staff are hosting volunteer work to control scotch broom and English ivy from noon to 4 p.m.
The day will begin in the science center’s Natural History Exhibit with a presentation about noxious weeds and plant restoration in Fort Worden State Park.
A Discover Pass is required.
For more information, email Shannon Phillips at sphillips@ptmsc.org or phone 360-385-5582, ext. 110.
‘Stone soup,’ stories
PORT TOWNSEND — Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2333 San Juan Ave., will commemorate the day with “stone soup” and stories of poverty starting at 10 a.m.
Each participant is asked to bring one vegetable for a community “stone soup.”
The soup will be served along with cheese and bread donated by Mount Townsend Creamery and Pane d’Amore Artisan Bakery.
Community members will share how poverty affects them.
