PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Fine Arts Center marks its 25th anniversary next year — but the silver anniversary celebration will begin a little early, during the annual Holiday Gala on Wednesday, Dec. 15.
Tickets — $95 per person — are on sale now for the dinner at C’est Si Bon, a French restaurant at 23 Cedar Park Drive. The dinner will be from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.
The reservation deadline is Friday, Dec. 10. Capacity is limited.
Silver is this year’s theme for the gala, and evening dress “is admired, but not required,” said Jake Seniuk, the executive director and curator of the art center at 1203 E. Lauridsen Blvd., which first opened on Nov. 22, 1986.
“The gala serves a dual function as a celebration of the year past, while helping raise funds for the year to come,” Seniuk continued.
“This will be the gala’s lucky 13th rendition.”
The budget for the art center — which includes an all-year outdoor-art show in Webster’s Woods — will be $175,000 in 2011, Seniuk said.
The art center received $24,750 from the city of Port Angeles for 2010, a 10 percent decrease from the year before, and raised about $25,000 in its biggest fundraiser of the year, the Cabinet of Wonders in October.
Seniuk said art center workers hope to raise about $15,000 through December’s gala, but “it’s mostly a celebration for the end of the year and a holiday event.”
During the gourmet meal, local crooner Charlie Ferris will sing some of the hits of the baby boomer era, paying homage to such diverse greats as Bobby Darin, Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, John Lennon, Frank Sinatra, B.B. King and Elvis Presley.
The gala is hosted by the Friends of the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center with a sponsorship from D.A. Davidson & Co. Financial Services.
Tickets, which are partially tax deductible, may be reserved by phoning Vicki Gronvall in Port Angeles at 360-928-0164 or the art center at 360-457-3532.
