SEQUIM — Organizers of the Sequim Sunshine Festival hope its third year is a return to form and an opportunity for the area to shine.
Set for today and Saturday across Sequim, it will feature an Illuminated Drone Light Show, Sun Fun Color Run, music and food.
“I think people are ready to have some fun and are looking for an opportunity to get outside,” said Patsene Dashiell, Sequim marketing coordinator.
Find more about the festival at sequimsunshinefestival.com.
Drones, lights, run
The popular drone show is among the events that are returning after a year off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Firefly Drone Company will fly its 100 drones starting at 7 p.m. Saturday for a 15-minute presentation near Carrie Blake Community Park, 202 N Blake Ave,, where the Sequim Irrigation Festival’s Logging Show takes place.
Organizers say the free show is unique to the Sunshine Festival.
Visitors are encouraged to bring chairs and watch from the park with parking available on the street, in the park and at Olympic View Church of God.
The Interactive Light Experience by artist Ross Brown also returns to the festival with new exhibits at Pioneer Memorial Park. The light stations allow users to reflect, absorb or transmit light with switches and dimmers; it’s also free.
The Sun Fun Color Run’s 1k and 5k is full at 530 participants, organizer Victoria Jones said.
There is no on-site wait list, but locals are encouraged to volunteer by signing up at runsignup.com/Race/Volunteer/WA/Sequim/SunFunColor Run.
Ribbon-cutting
A ribbon-cutting hosted by the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce will be at 5 p.m. today at the Sequim Civic Center, 152 W. Cedar St..
The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe will present Why the Sun Always Shines in Sequim at the Civic Center Plaza.
Dashiell said they “wanted to come out with a splash and welcome people coming back together.”
The evening also will feature the First Friday Art Walk in downtown and a musical jam session at the Civic Center Plaza with musicians invited to join in.
On both Friday and Saturday, the Interactive Light Experience is open, and locals can download and participate in the Great Sun Hunt 2022 by downloading the free Goose Chase app and going on a scavenger hunt of “Sequim’s sunniest locations,” according to organizers.
Paper versions of the game can be found at the Visitors Information Center, too.
On Saturday, events open at the Sunshine Market in the Guy Cole Event Center in Carrie Blake Park with 22 vendors inside. Most food vendors will be outside with some outdoor seating.
Dashiell said rather than hosting a ticketed event such as in the festival’s first year, they wanted it to be more inclusive and open it to all visitors to purchase food from vendors, including a beer and wine garden from the Sequim Valley Lions and treats inside from the Sweet Beginning Cafe.
Around the center, visitors are encouraged to participate in a street mural with paint and sun stencils that will last throughout the year. Artist Craig Robinson will be painting a new version of the “Be the I in Kind” sign, too.
From 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., visitors can pick up a free kit to make their own lanterns at the park’s gazebo near the center.
After Saturday’s 1k/5k run, the Buck Ellard Band will perform at the James Center for the Performing Arts in the park from noon to 1:30 p.m. followed by the Craig Buhler Band at the park’s Picnic Shelter from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Tom Shindler will play guitar and banjo at the park’s gazebo from 4:15 p.m. to 5 p.m., and Black Diamond Junction will perform from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the picnic shelter prior to the drone show.
For health precautions, masks are required inside at the Sunshine Market and Interactive Light Experience, with masks and hand sanitizer available.
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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.
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Michael Dashiell, the husband of Patsene Dashiell, edits the Sequim Gazette.
