A kickoff dinner for May’s Sequim Irrigation Festival, an early Easter egg hunt, fundraisers, family activities, hikes and seminars are scheduled throughout the North Olympic Peninsula this week.
Here is a sample of activities to enjoy this weekend:
Irrigation Festival dinner
SEQUIM — The Sequim Irrigation Festival’s Kickoff Dinner will feature royalty, pioneers and two grand marshals Saturday.
The dinner will be at 5 p.m. at 7 Cedars Casino’s Club Seven room.
The newly crowned queen — Fallon Schneider, 16 — and princesses Sierra Shelden, 16, Ashley Fuentes, 18, and Sarah Berkes, 17, will be present.
Grand pioneers are Dick Shaw and Irene Zeman Danforth, while the honorary pioneers are Art Boyd and Virginia Duncan Brownfield Dickinson.
Elaine and Robert Caldwell are the grand marshals of the Irrigation Festival Grand Parade, which will flow through downtown May 8.
The 115th Sequim Irrigation Festival will be held May 1-9.
Tickets to the dinner are $35. They are available only in advance at Sequim’s Key Bank, 120 N. Dunlap Ave.; at Frick Drug, 609 W. Washington St.; and at The Buzz, 128 N. Sequim Ave.
For information, phone 360-683-3408 or e-mail kickoffdinner@irrigationfestival.com.
More details about other festival events are at www.IrrigationFestival.com.
Easter party set
PORT ANGELES — The First United Methodist Church of Port Angeles, 110 E. Seventh St., will hold its fifth annual Easter Block Party from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
The Easter Block Party will include a variety of craft activities, such as Easter egg coloring, cookie decorating and flower arranging, along with a giant “bouncy room” for jumping and an old-fashioned cake walk.
A special activity room for very young children and their parents has been added this year.
Easter egg hunts for children 11 years and younger will be held at 1:15 p.m., 1:45 p.m., 2:15 p.m., 2:45 p.m. and 3:15 p.m.
The egg hunts are especially designed to be fun for all ages of children, with an emphasis on cooperation rather than competition.
Easter will fall on April 4 this year.
For more information, phone First United Methodist Church at 360-452-8971.
Jesus Parade
PORT TOWNSEND — The Jesus Parade will celebrate Palm Sunday.
Parade participants will gather at Townsite Plaza across from the ferry dock at 2 p.m. Sunday.
The parade will begin at 3 p.m., traveling to Pope Marine Park before retracing some of its steps to Adams Street Park, where free refreshments will be served.
Live music from two flatbed trucks — one provided by Pastor Jonathan Simonson of the Sequim Vineyard Community Church — will accompany the marchers, who will carry palms, balloons and banners.
Some 40 to 45 people participated in 2009, said Dennis Feten, who organizes the annual parade.
“We’re commemorating the historic walk of Jesus into Jerusalem, and we’re also celebrating his second coming, which Christians believe will happen in the near-term future,” Feten said.
“It’s open to anybody who wants to celebrate with us.”
Palm Sunday begins Holy Week, which culminates on Easter Sunday, April 4.
For more information, phone Feten at 360-385-5429 or check www.palmsundayparade.blogspot.com.
American Girl tea
PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Library, 2210 S. Peabody St., will hold a tea party for children who love the American Girl series at 10 a.m. Saturday.
A trivia contest based on the series will accompany the tea.
For more information, phone 360-417-8502 or visit www.nols.org.
YMCA Family Night
PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County Family YMCA, 302 S. Francis St., will open its doors to the public in a free Family Night from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.
The YMCA will be made over into an indoor play area for all ages, featuring the YMCA’s new inflatable obstacle course for kids ages 5-11 and inflatable slide for kids ages 4 and younger.
There will also be a gym games, Wii Sports games, dodgeball, music, crafts and camp songs.
Children must be accompanied by adults.
For more information, phone 360-452-9244.
Boys & Girls Clubs
PORT ANGELES SEmD The first of two Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula “Spring Flings” will be at the Mount Angeles unit Saturday.
The celebrations kick off fundraisers for both the Mount Angeles unit in Port Angeles and the Carroll C. Kendall unit in Sequim to kick off the annual Campaign for Kids fundraiser.
Free and open to the public, the family-oriented events will offer arts and crafts, games, live music and raffles with prizes including bicycles, and visitors can learn about the units’ programs.
The event in Port Angeles will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Mount Angeles Unit, 2620 S. Francis St.
Local police and firefighters and their equipment will be there.
The Sequim event will be at 400 W. Fir St., from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 10.
For more information, phone 360-683-8095 or 360-417-2831.
Volksmarch walk
The Olympic Peninsula Explorer’s Volksmarch Club will walk on the Spruce Railroad Trail on Saturday.
Participants can choose between a 7.46-mile walk or a 3.73-mile route.
The walk mostly follows the abandoned railroad grade on the north shore of Lake Crescent.
Parts of the trail are rocky and sometimes a bit muddy; baby joggers can be used, but with difficulty.
Wheelchairs are not recommended.
Walkers will meet at Albertsons, 114 E. Lauridsen Blvd., Port Angeles, shortly before 9 a.m.
Restrooms will be available during the sign-in and at the trailhead.
For more information, phone Kay Peters at 360-457-5117.
Boat talk
PORT TOWNSEND — Laingdon Schmidt and Kees Prins will present “Big Adventure in a Small Boat: The Building and Raid-Racing of Sparrow” tonight.
The free event will be at the Port Townsend Yacht Club, 2503 Washington St., at 7:15 p.m.
A potluck dinner before the talk will be held at 6 p.m.
The event is sponsored by the Point Wilson Sail & Power Squadron.
Schmidt and Prins will describe the challenge and satisfaction of building a 19-foot sailing and rowing dory and their participation in the 2006 Shipyard Raid race from Silva Bay, Gabriola Island, British Columbia, to Port Townsend.
The Shipyard Raid is an annual, weeklong staged sailing and rowing race for traditional small boats.
For more information, phone Albert Foster at 360-554-0468, e-mail pointwilson.squadron@gmail.com or visit www.pointwilson.org.
Garden seminar
SEQUIM — Annie Reiss of Skagit Gardens will demonstrate how to make garden containers at Henery’s Garden Center, 1060 Sequim-Dungeness Way, at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Reiss has more than 15 years of experience working with containers.
For more information, phone 360-683-6969.
Tupperware benefit
PORT ANGELES — Deb Balser, a Family Planning of Clallam County board member, will host a benefit Tupperware party at 711 S. Race St., from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday.
Fifteen percent of all purchases will be donated to Family Planning of Clallam County.
Those proceeds will go to support Family Planning’s Youth Education Program. The program seeks to provide young people with medically accurate, judgment-free information on reproductive health in an attempt to lower unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections among local youth.
For more information, phone Jack Slowriver at Family Planning of Clallam County at 360-452-2954, ext 15.
Tree giveaway set
PORT ANGELES — The North Olympic Timber Action Committee will hold its ninth annual tree giveaway at the Green Crow parking lot, 727 E. Eighth St., from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.
Trees will include Douglas fir, hemlock, spruce and cedar.
The committee will also sell a limited number of Fraser fir, grand fir and giant sequoias as a benefit for its scholarship program for Clallam County high school students.
For more information, phone 360-452-6645, 360-460-0218 or e-mail notac@olypen.com.
Flea market slated
PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Antique Mall will hold a flea market at the Fairview Grange, 2123 Lake Farm Road, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
During the event, antique mall staff will accept donated items for the local National Alliance on Mental Illness support group.
These donations will be picked up by members of the group at 4 p.m.
For more information, phone 360-452-1693.
Landscape design
SEQUIM — Don Marshall will discuss “Basic Elements of Successful Landscape Design” at McComb Gardens, 751 McComb Road, at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Marshall is the director of the Environmental Horticulture program at Lake Washington Technical College and the author of Northwest Home Landscaping.
His book will be available for purchase at the free lecture.
For more information, phone 360-681-2827.
Habitat for Humanity
PORT TOWNSEND — Habitat for Humanity of East Jefferson County will dedicate a new home and break ground for three more on Sunday.
The dedication of the recently completed home for Francisca Lanphear and her children will be at 2:30 p.m. in the 1400 block of 21st Street in Port Townsend.
Groundbreaking ceremonies for three new homes for the families of Amy Milne, Debbie Thetford and Rey Nila will be at 3:30 p.m. one block over on 20th Street.
The public is invited to attend the ceremonies.
When these houses are finished, Habitat in East Jefferson County will have completed 22 homes since 1998.
For more information or to volunteer, phone 360-379-2827.
Afghanistan trip
PORT TOWNSEND — Dana Visalli will discuss his recent two-week trip to Afghanistan as part of a Global Exchange delegation at Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2333 San Juan Ave., at 7 p.m. Sunday.
Visalli, who works as a botanist and naturalist in the north and central regions of Washington state, will share his experiences and insights from the trip.
His topics will include stories and faces of the Afghan people, the condition of Afghan women and children, perspectives on the war, the impact of war on the natural environment there and a brief outline of Afghan history.
The free talk is open to the public and co-sponsored by Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and the Port Townsend Peace Movement.
Donations will be accepted.
For more information, visit www.methownaturalist.com.
Tobacco fair slated
PORT TOWNSEND — The Boiler Room, a coffeehouse, performance space and hangout for young people at 711 Water St., will host a tobacco fair at which youths can learn about tobacco and its effect on the body from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday.
The public is invited to explore booths that include a tar jar, smoker’s lung and more information regarding tobacco.
Snacks will be served
For more information, phone 360-379-8247.
