PORT ANGELES — A Concert of Light featuring Nashville musicians Daryl Wayne Dasher and Jill Kinsey and area dance music favorite Fat Chance will perform as a benefit for the Captain Joseph House Foundation at Olympic Cellars on Friday.
Tickets are $20 and can be purchased online at https://captainjosephhousefoundation.org or at the door of the winery at 255410 U.S. Highway 101 east of Port Angeles.
Doors will open at 6 p.m. with the music beginning at 7 p.m.
The concert will go toward the operation of the Captain Joseph House as a respite for military families who have lost loved ones in combat since 9/11. Betsy Reed Schultz founded it in honor of her son, Captain Joseph William Schultz, who was killed May 29, 2011, in Afghanistan.
The renovation of the house itself, a former bed and breakfast at 1108 S. Oak St. in Port Angeles, is almost completed, said Schultz and board president Kathy Charlton. Their hope, which depends largely upon COVID-19 restrictions, is that the house can have a soft opening for Gold Star families by the end of 2021.
“The program works because they can be close together,” to talk, hug and support each other, Schultz said Wednesday. Three families at a time would stay in the house “as the COVID regulations diminish and make it possible for families from different parts of the country to come safely,” she said.
Ground was broken for the renovation in June 2013. Elevator installation will begin next week, Schultz said. Some lighting still needs to be put in.
Most of the work has been done by volunteers — adding up to some 30,000 volunteer hours, Schultz said — although paid contractors have been used for systems such as the electrical and plumbing.
Friday’s concert will be led by the two Nashville music-makers, who have been recruited for the nonprofit benefit by the Last Honkytonk Music Series, which draws musicians from all over the nation to perform at nonprofit fundraisers, each of which is called a Concert of Light.
The Military Assistance Program has helped to sponsor the concert.
Both Dasher and Kinsey are singer-songwriters. Dasher performs country and folk music with lyrics revolving around social consciousness, the outdoors, personal conflict and love, according to his website. Kinsey’s music is described as “one part traditional country, one part rock and roll, one part indescribable,” on her website.
Once they finish, Fat Chance will come out to provide the spirited dance music known well on the North Olympic Peninsula.
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Executive Editor Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3530 or at lleach@peninsuladailynews.com.
