PORT ANGELES — Plenty of tickets are still available for the William Shore Memorial Pool benefit concert this Friday, which will feature The Lonely H, a Port Angeles band that has toured nationwide.
So far, 20 tickets have been sold out of the 400 available.
The concert, organized by Save the Pool PA to help keep the public pool open through June, will be from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Port Angeles Eagles Club, 110 S. Penn St.
Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door.
Tickets can be purchased at Port Book and News, 104 E. First Street in downtown Port Angeles; Cowboy Country, 923 E. First St. in Port Angeles; and McHugh Realtors, 422 E. Washington St., Sequim.
“I am very excited about the show,” said Linda Fairchild, who is heading the organization’s fundraising efforts.
The band members, who now live in Seattle, graduated from Port Angeles High School.
They approached the Save the Pool PA group in December about performing for a benefit concert for the public pool at 225 E. Fifth Street in Port Angeles.
“They volunteered because they all remembered learning how to swim at William Shore Memorial Pool,” Fairchild said.
“They wanted to give back to the community.”
The band now is finishing the recording of its third album and will begin a nationwide tour in March.
Save the Pool PA also is holding a concert and a dinner/silent auction at 5 p.m. Saturday at 7 Cedars Casino to fund the maintenance and operations of the pool through the first half of the year.
Roughly $64,000 — which is enough to fund the pool for April and May — has been raised, but the group needs at least $90,000 to keep the pool going through June.
The group has sold 160 tickets for the dinner/silent auction — which cost $20 each — and has 25 still available.
The city of Port Angeles is now accepting donations. Save the Pool PA gave the city a check of $38,500 last week.
Krista Winn, Save the Pool PA chairwoman, said that about $15,000 in outstanding pledges — which are included in the total amount raised — haven’t been collected.
She said Save the Pool PA hopes to raise a total of $8,000 from the two events.
The money is needed because the city will no longer fund a gap between the pool’s revenues and expenses after March 31.
Save the Pool PA hopes to keep the pool open through June in order to allow voters living within the Port Angeles School District to consider approval of a metropolitan park district that would levy a property tax to make up that gap after the first half of the year.
The seven-member Port Angeles City Council and the three Clallam County commissioners gave their approval last month to a special election in May.
Word is getting out about Friday’s concert through text messages by Port Angeles High School students, Fairchild said.
“That technology is probably going to work better than posters or anything else,” Fairchild said.
Tickets for the dinner and auction can be purchased from the waiters or by contacting Winn at 360-477-1852.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@ peninsuladailynews.com.
