BLYN –– New royalty, a slate of pioneers and a grand marshal will help celebrate the unveiling of the Sequim Irrigation Festival float during the festival’s annual Kickoff Dinner on Saturday.
The kickoff for the 118-year-old festival will be in 7 Cedars Casino’s Club Seven lounge in Blyn, and it promises to be a toe-tapping good time, as the festival scheduled May 3-10 begins to celebrate under this year’s mantle of “Dancing Through The Valley.”
Events start at 4 p.m. with the unveiling of the festival float, which has been under construction for the past couple of months by a group of volunteers working to build designer Guy Horton’s vision.
Tickets to the 5 p.m. dinner are $65 each and must be reserved in advance.
Leading the celebratory dance after the gourmet feast will be the royalty court, named in January, of Queen Angela Bentley and Princesses Christie Honroe, Danyelle Wilson and Lavee Hess.
In addition to the float, the event will introduce the official festival lapel pin and other festival merchandise.
Other items offered by local businesses will be offered for auction.
Grand Marshal Elaine Grinnell, a renowned storyteller from the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe, will make her grand appearance at the dinner.
She will lead the Irrigation Festival Grand Parade, which will tour downtown May 11.
Grand Pioneers are Neil Cays and Esther Heuhlsein Nelson, while Harry Shlaffman and Nancy Jarmuth Smith have been named Honorary Pioneers.
Those who were born and lived most of their lives in the Sequim area may be named Grand Pioneers, while the Honorary Pioneers are those who have lived in Sequim for 40 years or longer.
Tickets are available at Sequim’s KeyBank, 120 N. Dunlap Ave.; Sound Community Bank, 541 N. Fifth Ave.; Pacific Mist Books, 121 W. Washington St.; and the Visitor Information Center, 1192 E. Washington St.
For more information, contact Tawana Borden, kickoff dinner and auction chairwoman, at kickoffdinner@irrigationfestival.com or 360-683-3408.
More details about other festival events are at www.IrrigationFestival.com.
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at jsmillie@peninsuladailynews.com.
