SEQUIM — Louie Rychlik made two women cry by 8:30 a.m. Monday.
Don’t fret. These were tears of joy and surprise.
Rychlik walked into Sequim City Hall soon after reading in the Monday Peninsula Daily News about this summer’s free Music & Movies in the Park series and how it would have to be cut back for lack of sufficient sponsorships.
“How much do you need?” he asked City Clerk Karen Kuznek-Reese and Deputy City Clerk Bobbie Usselman, orchestrators of the open-air concerts.
Kuznek-Reese answered that in order to present the usual 12 weeks of live music and three outdoor movies, the city needed $6,000.
So Rychlik wrote a check for that amount.
The sum will bring Sequim’s Music & Movies fund to the needed $13,000 and erase the plan to shorten the series to only eight weeks of music and one movie.
“Bobbie and I were in tears,” Kuznek-Reese said Tuesday.
But they had to get back to work selecting this summer’s family films and bands so they can announce the schedule by Friday.
The first concert in the Tuesday-night series, which takes place at the James Center band shell next to Carrie Blake Park at 202 N. Blake Ave., will be on June 23.
Values concerts
Rychlik, owner of Louie’s Well Drilling of Port Angeles, said he was plain miffed by the idea of reducing free community concerts.
“I read about it Monday morning and I said, ‘This is terrible.’ The kids have got to have something to do. I know the economy’s bad and everything else,” he said, “but the community has been good to me.”
He considers both Sequim and Port Angeles to be his community. The two towns are where he’s grown his family business for some 35 years.
Today Rychlik, 67, calls himself half-retired — “I work when I want to work” — and is an avid supporter of the young racers who hit the Port Angeles BMX track every spring.
He and his grandson, Brendin “Fudd” Beckett, 17, have raised thousands of dollars for the Race for Life, a summer event to benefit the Leukemia Society of America.
Rychlik, also known as “Papa Louie” at the track, said he buys uniforms, fixes bikes and comforts kids after crashes.
But now that his grandson is nearly a man, he might be moving on to other activities, such as music. Beckett plays guitar and drums, Rychlik said, adding that maybe one of these summers, he’ll appear on that outdoor stage in Sequim.
Louie’s Well Drilling will join nine other sponsors who provided the other $7,000 for this summer’s concerts: A Catered Affair, Action Property Management, Bekkevar Logging, First Federal, Gray & Osborne, Clark Land Office, Jarmuth Electric, Sherwood Assisted Living-The Fifth Avenue owner Bill Littlejohn and Sequim Realty-Team McAleer.
Another donation
Kuznek-Reese said attorney Chris Shea, with whom the city contracts for prosecution services, has just pledged a $500 donation. She added that such contributions are still welcome, since they will provide a cushion for unforeseen costs.
With its June 23 kickoff, Sequim will be the first North Olympic Peninsula city to stage free alfresco music this summer.
Port Angeles’ Wednesday evening concerts on City Pier will run from June 24 through Sept. 2, while Port Townsend’s outdoor music is scheduled to get under way July 2 and continue Thursday evenings until Sept. 3, though the Chamber of Commerce is seeking an alternative location to the usual Quincy Street Dock.
The PDN and its free weekly newspaper, Sequim This Week, helped start the performances in Sequim; the PDN also co-founded Port Townsend’s Concert on the Dock series. Through the summer, the newspaper provides free advertising for all three concert programs.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
