CHIMACUM — Public input is sought at Routes and Roots, two community workshops scheduled Monday and Tuesday at the Chimacum Grange.
Both are free at the grange hall at 9572 Rhody Drive, and although RSVPs to routesandroots.bpt.me are appreciated, they aren’t necessary, said Aba Kiser, event coordinator; walk-ins will be welcome.
Monday’s Routes workshop is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Tuesday’s Roots workshop is set from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
The North Olympic Development Council workshops, which are funded by a $10,000 grant from the Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design, are different in character.
Monday’s workshop will be devoted to “defining our ‘routes’ or how we connect and get from place to place, with transportation choices for all ages and abilities,” Kiser said, while Tuesday’s Roots workshop will focus on the “shared culture in Chimacum.”
“Combined, the focus is to spur conversation, awareness and locally driven ideas to celebrate the connection between culture in agriculture and ensure we build the thriving rural community we want,” Kiser said.
Routes will explore rural transportation and the opportunities and challenges for promoting walking, walkability, active living and aging in place.
Participants will “Walk N Roll” state Highway 19 to assess and address challenges and opportunities for promoting safe routes to school, to the park, to the library or to shop in the Chimacum area.
The walking audit will be led by Samantha Thomas, a Port Townsend resident and a Built Environment manager of the Blue Zones Project.
Participants will be asked where they walk now, “how they use Chimacum,” Kiser said.
The information may be useful in future planning, she said, adding that county planner Joel Peterson will attend.
Among the topics to be discussed Monday will be the Rick Tollefson Memorial Trail connecting Chimacum and Port Hadlock through the Chimacum Creek valley, Kiser said.
The trail will begin at the main Chimacum School campus at West Valley Road, connect H.J. Carroll Park to the Bob Bates Fields on Chimacum Road on an off-road path that crosses Chimacum Creek and then end in Port Hadlock with spurs to the Lower Hadlock waterfront and the county library.
Roots on Tuesday night will feature a presentation by Donna Neuwirth, executive director and co-founder of the Wormfarm Institute in Reedsburg, Wis.
Reedsburg is a rural agricultural community much like Chimacum, Kiser said. It hosts an annual Fermentation Festival to celebrate “the intersection where culture and agriculture meet.”
“Through slides, a talk and conversation with the audience, Neuwirth will make her case that food, farming and the arts, when put together, add up to more than the sum of their parts,” Kiser said.
After Neuwirth speaks, participants will brainstorm ideas for a mural to honor the Chimacum Grange’s 100th anniversary in 2018.
“The grange finds itself at a crossroads,” Kiser said. “In years past, it ranked up there with the church in importance to the community. Today, it is searching for relevance as the farming community ages and a new generation of farmers with different needs arises.”
She hopes the upcoming grange centennial celebration “will provide an opportunity to acknowledge this transition and engage the younger population in learning about and honoring the heritage of our farming community.”
Attending the evening workshop will be a group of high school students from Chimacum’s Art and Career &Technical Education departments, led by instructor Gary Coyan, who will be the leader of a project to paint a commemorative grange centennial mural, Kiser said.
After introductory remarks, activities will move to the grange basement, where students will have heritage art logos on display.
“The central question being asked is: What is it about the grange’s 100-year history and our area’s agricultural heritage that is most important to honor and preserve in this mural?” Kiser said.
“While you ponder that question, we invite you to enjoy tea, coffee, cookies with your neighbors.”
