Parks can be visited for free and volunteers are working on service projects today and Monday in the North Olympic Peninsula’s commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The holiday and day of service, officially set for Monday, marks the birthday of the civil rights leader, assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968, who was born Jan. 15, 1929, in Atlanta.
Here is a sample of activities set to mark the day:
Parks, forest
OLYMPIA — Olympic National Park, Olympic National Forest and state parks will admit visitors for free Monday only, while state parks will waive the Discover Pass requirement today and Monday.
On Monday, entrance fees will be waived for Olympic National Park, and Olympic National Forest will waive fees at most of its day-use recreation sites.
During free days at state parks, a Discover Pass still will be required to be displayed on vehicles on lands managed by the state departments of Natural Resources and Fish and Wildlife.
Discover Passes are $30 each. One-day passes are $10 each.
The national park entrance fee is $15 per vehicle for a single visit, which is good for seven consecutive days, or $30 for an annual pass.
PORT ANGELES
MLK 5K Dream run
PORT ANGELES — Serenity House of Clallam County will host the Dream Run, a 5K run and walk, with registrations starting at 8 a.m. Monday.
The course on Olympic Discovery Trail course starts at City Pier at 9 a.m. Entrants with dogs must have them on a leash.
A donation of $10 per entrant will go toward housing for homeelss.
For more, contact Brent Shively at 360-452-1439 or serenityhouse.brent@gmail.com.
MLK trail clearing
PORT ANGELES — Volunteers will remove scotch broom, a non-native invasive plant, along Siebert Creek from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Monday.
They will meet in the Wild Current Way parking lot off Old Olympic Highway and also do trail maintenance on the Olympic Discovery Trail and the Siebert Creek Conservation Area.
To RSVP or for more information, phone Lorrie Mittmann, stewardship director of the North Olympic Land Trust, at 360-417-1815, ext. 7.
PORT TOWNSEND
Schooner work weekend
PORT TOWNSEND — A work weekend on the schooner Adventuress continues today and Monday.
Volunteers will work on the boat from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Monday at Haven Boatworks, 305 Eighth St., in the Boat Haven. Work began Saturday to sand and paint the 101-year-old vessel.
For more information, email Evans at daniel@soundexp.org.
MLK work party
PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend Marine Science Center and AmeriCorps staff are hosting volunteer work to control scotch broom and English ivy from noon to 4 p.m. Monday.
The day will begin in the science center’s Natural History Exhibit with a presentation about noxious weeds and plant restoration in Fort Worden State Park.
A current Discover Pass is required in the park.
For more information, email Shannon Phillips at sphillips@ptmsc.org or phone 360-385-5582, ext. 110.
‘Stone soup,’ stories
PORT TOWNSEND — Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship will mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day with “stone soup” and stories of poverty.
The commemoration will begin at 10 a.m. at the fellowship at 2333 San Juan Ave.
Each participant is asked to bring one vegetable for a community “stone soup” — based on a folk tale about making soup from a stone as community members bring ingredients to add to it.
The soup will be served for lunch along with cheese and bread donated by Mount Townsend Creamery and Pane d’Amore Artisan Bakery.
Community members will tell how poverty affects them.
