SEKIU — If the fog that has socked in the Strait of Juan de Fuca most mornings this week lifts early Saturday, then pilots will have a grand time at the Sekiu Fly-In, organizers say.
If not, then everyone else still will enjoy the feast at Sekiu Airport in Clallam Bay, said Ali Baker, one of the organizers of the Clallam Bay-Sekiu Chamber of Commerce fundraiser.
The annual event, always held on Memorial Day weekend, coincides with one day of the Swiftsure International Yacht Race from Victoria across the Strait to Neah Bay and Clallam Bay and back.
The Fly-In draws pilots of small planes from Discovery Bay, Everett, Vancouver, Victoria and other areas within about 100 miles of Sekiu, Baker said.
But all are welcome, no matter how they arrive.
“However you get here is good by us — walk, bicycle, drive or fly,” Baker said.
This 10th annual Sekiu Fly-In will offer a fiesta meal of tacos, Spanish rice, chili beans chips, salsa and dessert from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Pilots eat free. For everyone else, it’s $8 for adults, $7 for senior citizens and $1 for children 5 and younger.
All proceeds will go to the Rocky Hinkle Memorial Scholarship Fund, named for a Clallam Bay businesswoman and education advocate who died in 2007.
The fundraiser raises money for scholarships for students at Clallam Bay High School.
Gary Fernandes, a Sekiu pilot who offers free rides in his Piper Cherokee 140 at the event, worried about fog.
“I’m hoping the fog doesn’t come in like it has been the last three days,” Fernandes said, adding that the fog over the Strait has been clearing by afternoon.
“We worry about fog. We worry about the weather,” Baker said.
“One year, we had 22 planes come in because there was such a beautiful weekend,” while another year, only one plane arrived, she said.
“Regardless of whether the planes come or not, it’s a good time.”
For more information, phone the Clallam Bay-Sekiu Chamber of Commerce at 360-963-2339 or email info@clallambay.com.
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Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or at leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
