Sampling books and coffee and attending holiday open houses are among the weekend’s activities on the North Olympic Peninsula.
For more about a special Peninsula version of “The Nutcracker” and information about other arts and entertainment news, see Peninsula Spotlight, the Peninsula Daily News’ weekly arts and entertainment guide included with today’s PDN.
Information also is available in the interactive calendar at www.peninsuladailynews.com.
PORT ANGELES
Madrigal Dinner
PORT ANGELES — The 10th annual Madrigal Dinner will be presided over by King Henry of Thermopolis tonight and Saturday night.
Tickets are $25 to the five-course dinner in the Port Angeles High School cafeteria at 304 E. Park Ave. Doors will open at 7 tonight and Saturday night.
As of Wednesday, only tickets to tonight’s dinner were available. Saturday’s meal was sold out.
The PAHS Choir will provide entertainment for the meal, which will include wassail, butternut squash soup, roast chicken, roasted potatoes with broccoli and gourmet cupcakes and cheesecakes.
For ticket information, contact Jolene Dalton Gailey, choral director, at 360-565-1535 or jgailey@portangelesschools.org.
Books & Libations
PORT ANGELES — Learn about new books while sipping hand-crafted coffee as the North Olympic Library System teams up with The Blackbird Coffeehouse to offer the latest installment of Books & Libations from 6 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. Saturday.
The free event will be held in the Port Angeles Library’s Living Room, 2210 S. Peabody St.
At each tasting station, participants will sample one book and one of Blackbird’s fresh-brewed coffees, sourced from Stumptown Coffee Roasters.
Each book has been paired with each of the brews, with titles ranging from classics to sci-fi to literary fiction.
Altogether, participants will learn about six books and sample six libations throughout the evening.
Space is limited, and registration is required for this event via www.nols.org/events/port-angeles.html#libations.
Memorial service
PORT ANGELES — Assured Hospice will offer a community memorial service from 11 a.m. to noon Saturday for loved ones who have died.
The service will be at Drennan & Ford Funeral Home, 260 Monroe Road.
The service is nondenominational and open to anyone who has experienced a recent loss.
It will include music, a prayer reading of the names of the deceased and a time for sharing, reflection and reception of a memorial ornament.
Each visitor is urged to bring a photo of a deceased loved one.
To attend, RSVP to Assured Hospice at 360-582-3796.
SEQUIM
Christmas tea
SEQUIM — The historic Dungeness Schoolhouse, 2781 Towne Road, from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday will host the annual Christmas tea.
Christmas tea, baked goods and holiday art will be for sale.
Proceeds benefit the historic schoolhouse.
Winter market
SEQUIM — Birds of a Feather Farm will offer a special winter market at the farm at 825 W. Washington St. from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.
Several local vendors will showcase their products, do demonstrations and answer questions, said Kristy Grasser of Birds of a Feather Farm.
PORT TOWNSEND
Dinner and Murder
PORT TOWNSEND — The Oscar Erickson Building at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, 4907 Landes St., tonight and Saturday will host “America’s Next Top Monster,” a performance presented by the Port Townsend Mystery Players.
The show will be presented at 5 tonight and Saturday night.
The annual dinner-and-a-murder fundraising show is sponsored by the Port Townsend Kiwanis Club.
Tickets are $55 and include the dinner and show, with all proceeds benefiting the Jefferson County Children’s Programs supported by the PT Kiwanis Club and Olympic Community Action Programs.
Tickets are available at www.brownpapertickets.com or by contacting Mary Crozier at 360-531-0200 or maryc@ptpc.com.
The food will be catered by Rick Unrue and his staff from the Belmont Restaurant.
For more information, visit ptmystery.com.
Landfill talk
PORT TOWNSEND — Civil engineer Kathryn Neal will provide an illustrated presentation at 4 p.m. Saturday about Port Angeles’ bluff erosion near its now-closed landfill site.
Her talk will be at the Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship hall, 2333 San Juan Ave., Port Townsend.
Sponsored by the Jefferson Land Trust Geology Group, the talk is free and open to the public, although a $5 donation is appreciated to defray expenses.
The city of Port Angeles created a 25-acre dump in 1947 on a blufftop near its western shoreline, between Ediz Hook and the Elwha River.
Throughout the next 60 years, the site evolved into a 70-acre landfill with numerous waste containment cells. It was closed in 2007. Wave action at this beach site had been continuously eroding the 135-foot-high bluffs.
In June 2011, a small exposure of garbage from one of the landfill cells was hanging over the edge of the bluff.
Further erosion could easily have resulted in a large release of garbage onto the beach below because there were only 11 to 15 feet of bluff and native vegetation between the eroded bluff face and a 60-foot-deep pit of municipal solid waste.
Neal, city of Port Angeles engineering manager, will review the geologic setting, bluff retreat rates and sediment contribution from the bluffs to Ediz Hook, the history of public works construction at the site, wave energy and beach morphology studies that the city conducted, and summarize design alternatives that the city considered before deciding to relocate the whole landfill.
Humanities talk
PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend Library and Humanities Washington will sponsor a community conversation with Mike VanQuickenborne, a member of the 2016 Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau, from 7 to 8:30 tonight.
The free presentation will be at the Port Townsend Library, 1220 Lawrence St.
VanQuickenborne will share brief clips from “Being John Malkovich,” “I Heart Huckabees,” “Intolerable Cruelty” and “Adaptation” to start a conversation about philosophy and explore the issues raised by each of these films.
VanQuickenborne is a tenured philosophy instructor at Everett Community College and has taught philosophy at a variety of colleges on both sides of the Cascade crest.
VanQuickenborne is a graduate of St. Olaf College and earned a Master of Arts in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and did graduate coursework at Purdue University.
For more information, contact Keith Darrock at kdarrock@cityofpt.us.
Discounted
PORT TOWNSEND — Mountain View Pool will offer a discounted open swim from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. today.
Everyone is invited to swim for $2 at the pool, 1919 Blaine St.
The whole pool will be dedicated to play. Noodles, rings and other floating toys will be available.
No lap lanes will be offered. Children younger than 8 must be accompanied by a guardian.
For more information, phone 360-385-7665, email ascalf@cityofpt.us or visit www.cityofpt.us/pool.
PORT HADLOCK
Boatbuilding school
PORT HADLOCK — The First Friday Tour of the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding will be from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The school is at 42 N. Water St.
The tour is free and open to the public.
QUILCENE
Open house
QUILCENE — Center Valley Animal Rescue plans a holiday open house from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
The shelter is at 11900 Center Road in Quilcene.
Chair massages with Catherine Herrick, LMT; henna tattoos from Sophia of Limitless Henna; and photos with Santa will be offered.
Sweet and savory treats — including homebaked pie — are planned. Themed baskets and cakes will be raffle prizes.
For more information, call 360-765-0598.
FORKS
Beachwatchers wanted
FORKS — The Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST) will deliver a free training session for citizens interested in joining the new COASST Marine Debris program from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
The training session will be held in the Olympic Natural Resource Center’s social hall, 1455 S. Forks Ave.
There will be a short break in the middle of the session for lunch, so bring a sack lunch or money to purchase food in the area.
Volunteers need no prior experience with scientific data collection, just a commitment to survey a specific beach at least once a month.
Reserve a training spot by calling COASST at 206-221-6893 or emailing coasst@uw.edu.
