PORT ANGELES — Soft, aromatic German-style pretzels, an aerobatic plane ride over the Olympic Peninsula, kimonos and at least one tuxedo: All are part of the Cabinet of Wonders, the year’s biggest, most important fundraiser for the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center.
It’s a night of dancing, dining and bidding on fine art and other auction items, from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday at the Masonic Temple, 622 S. Lincoln St.
Tickets are $75, and patrons must purchase them by tonight at Port Book and News, open until 8 p.m. at 104 E. First St., at the fine arts center, open until 5 p.m. at 1203 E. Lauridsen Blvd., or by phone at 360-457-3532.
Patrons come from all over the North Olympic Peninsula, said Jake Seniuk, the center’s director.
No tickets will be available at the door. The center must get an early guest count so as to ensure enough food for all, Seniuk said.
Bidding electronically
For the first time, bidding on both live auction and silent auction items can be done electronically.
The items are listed and pictured on the center’s website, www.PAFAC.org, and bids can be made via e-mail to pafac@olypen.com. Bidding is open now.
But “bids can be trumped at the event” by those in attendance, Seniuk said.
Items include pieces created by artists from all over the Northwest — Port Angeles, Sequim, Port Townsend, Seattle and elsewhere.
The Masonic Temple will be made over into an Asian-themed festival scene, promised Seniuk.
But what’s in the name?
“Cabinet of Wonders” refers to the curio cabinets of exotic collectibles, which were the 17th-century forerunners of modern museums, Seniuk said.
Today in Port Angeles, the wonders come together thanks to the creative talents of the Friends of the Fine Arts Center, he added.
These art lovers include Maja Cox, aka the “queen of the Cabinet.” She’s spending the week painting display panels jade green and adorning the temple with Japanese origami, ikebana and kimonos.
Seniuk, meanwhile, plans to wear a tuxedo to Saturday’s soiree, though he’s not sure how it will affect his dancing later in the evening.
No matter. The point, he said, is that the Cabinet of Wonders is an elegant affair. Okasan of Port Angeles is catering dinner, and the auction items run the gamut.
Air tours, pretzels
There’s the aerobatic plane trip, donated by Port Angeles pilot John David Crow, as well as a helicopter tour of the Peninsula or the San Juan Islands, also from Crow.
And there are also those pretzels, which Seniuk himself will make and deliver to the winning bidder.
Comedian Mike Piper of Sequim will preside over the live auction, which is made up of 19 items; another 80 gifts fill out the evening’s silent auction.
Both auctions offer “a fabulous lineup of unique collectibles, antiques, trips, gourmet excursions and always intriguing artworks,” Seniuk said.
“There will be lots of art, in a really wide range of prices, from $100 to $3,000.”
The Peninsula Baton Team, a quartet of girl twirlers, will give a short performance, and then circulate and sell fortune cookies with comical messages inside, said Linda Crow, president of the Friends of the Fine Arts Center.
The evening culminates in dancing to country and classic rock by the Jim Hoffman Band.
In its fourth incarnation this year, the Cabinet of Wonders is also crucial to the arts center’s health. It supports basic operations and programming, from gallery exhibitions and Webster’s Woods, the art park surrounding the center, to programs for local school children.
To learn more about the center’s exhibitions, visit www.PAFAC.org or phone 360-457-3532.
While Webster’s Woods is open from dawn until dusk, the center’s gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. Admission is always free.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3550 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.