Engineering feats by Sequim students, a Port Scandalous Roller Derby and the 21st annual Wooden Boat Foundation Shipwrights’ Race are among the activities on the North Olympic Peninsula this weekend.
For information about other arts and entertainment events, see Peninsula Spotlight, the Peninsula Daily News’ weekly entertainment guide, in today’s print edition.
Other events are in the “Things to Do” calendar, available online at www.peninsuladailynews.com.
PORT ANGELES
Chili cook-off set
PORT ANGELES — Peaks Brewpub, 130 S. Lincoln St., will hold its 13th annual Chili Cookoff on Saturday.
Table setup will begin at 3 p.m. and judging at 5 p.m.
Entry fee for chili contestants is $5.
After judging, the public can purchase a bowl and spoon for $2 and check out all the contestants’ chili.
For more information, phone Peaks at 360-452-2802.
Roller derby bout
PORT ANGELES — Port Scandalous Roller Derby members will hold their second bout of the season Saturday.
The Port Scandalous Brawl Stars will take on the Reign Valley Vixen All Stars from Abbotsford, B.C., at Olympic Skate Center, 707 S. Chase St., at 6 p.m.
Doors will open at 5:30 p.m.
Presale tickets are $10 at www.brownpapertickets.com or Bada Bean! Bada Bloom!, 1105 E. Front St.
Tickets will be $12 at the door.
Research library open
PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County Genealogical Society Research Library, 931 W. Ninth St., will be open from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Volunteers will be available to assist and explain the vast amount of local genealogical information available in the library, such as the surname file and cemetery, marriage, obituary and probate-court records.
Society computers have access to such genealogy programs as Ancestry, Fold 3, World Vital Records and American Ancestor.
For more information, phone 360-417-5000.
Play continues run
PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Community Players’ production of Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Nile” continues this weekend.
Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Port Angeles Community Playhouse, 1235 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
The play will end its run Sunday, March 4.
Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for children and students.
They are available at Odyssey Bookshop, 114 W. Front St., and online at www.pacommunityplayers.com.
For more information, phone 360-452-6651.
Slide show benefit
PORT ANGELES — Kent Brauninger will present a slide show of hikes through the high backcountry of Olympic National Park at an event today at 7 p.m.
The slide show will be held in Allen Hall of First Baptist Church, 105 W. Sixth St.
Donations will be accepted, with proceeds going to the church’s furnace fund.
For more information, phone 360-457-3313.
Club walk slated
PORT ANGELES — The Olympic Peninsula Explorers will host a Port Angeles Historical Walk on Saturday.
Walkers will meet in the lobby of the Red Lion Hotel, 221 N. Lincoln St., at 9 a.m.
Routes of 3.7 or 6.2 miles are available.
A carpool will leave the Sequim QFC parking lot at 8:30 a.m.
For more information, phone Kay Peters at 360-457-5117.
Documentary screened
PORT ANGELES — The documentary “Forks Over Knives” will be screened at 120 W. Eighth St. at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
The event is hosted by the Port Angeles Seventh-day Adventist Church.
“Forks Over Knives” examines the claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict humans can be controlled, or even reversed, by changing diet.
The event is free and open to the public.
SEQUIM
Engineering event
SEQUIM — More than 125 contestants will gather at the Sequim Boys & Girls Club, 400 W. Fir St., for the Sequim Education Foundation’s fourth annual Engineering Challenge.
The challenge will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday.
This year’s event will be a trebuchet contest open to Sequim public school students.
The trebuchet — a medieval gravity-powered war machine designed to throw rocks and fireballs at enemy targets — is of special design because it uses a sling attached to the arm of a simple lever to give the weapon’s projectiles far greater velocity and distance than the catapult.
Students in kindergarten through fifth grade will compete with standardized kit versions of the machines shooting at a target of concentric rings.
Students in grades three through eight will compete using machines of their own design shooting at a medieval castle target.
Winners in each division will receive scholarship prizes.
SEF-sponsored after-school engineering clubs give students hands-on instruction in the mechanics of the lever action and understanding of the physics of acceleration at work in the sling.
SEF Director Walt Johnson has been chairman of the Engineering Challenge with Bryce Fish, Dave Hasenpflug, Taylor Olson, Bill Olson and Dick Hughes serving on the planning committee.
Teachers Carla Morton, Dave Hasenpflug and Joe Landoni have worked with students competing in the event.
Previous Engineering Challenges have included the Egg Drop, Popsicle Stick Bridge Building and Mars Rover Contests.
For more information, visit www.sequimed.org.
Band holds benefit
SEQUIM — The Sequim High School Band will hold its annual rummage sale benefit at the Sequim High School cafeteria, 601 N. Sequim Ave., from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
Proceeds pay travel costs for band members.
The sale will include fishing equipment, vintage kitchen and bakeware, appliances, toys, games, sporting goods, clothing, decorative items, furniture, antiques and more.
Vocal contest finals
SEQUIM — The finals of “Pass the Mic,” the King’s Way Foursquare Church’s annual vocal talent competition, will be held at 7 p.m. today.
Each performer will sing a full song at the competition.
Prizes of $500, $250 and $125 are available in the adult category (ages 14 and older), and there are prizes for the kids’ group (ages 3 to 13).
Kids book-signing
SEQUIM — Local children’s book author Gene Bradbury and illustrator Victoria Wickell-Stewart will hold a book signing and illustration display Saturday.
The event will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Pacific Mist Books, 121 W. Washington St.
The duo will sign copies of The Mouse Who Wanted to Fly.
In the book, Fergus the Mouse has plans to become the first mouse to fly an airplane and pursues those plans with the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk.
Fergus’ adventures are recommended for children ages 4 to 8 years old.
Copies of The Mouse Who Wanted to Fly as well as The Mouse With Wheels in His Head will be available for purchase and signing.
Face painting will be available.
Elks benefit breakfast
SEQUIM — Sequim Elks Lodge No. 2642 will host a benefit breakfast Sunday.
The breakfast will be at the lodge at 143 Port Williams Road from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Scrambled eggs, link sausage, pancakes, orange juice, tea and coffee will be served.
The cost is $5 for adults, $3 for children 6-10 and free for youths younger than 6.
E-reader training set
SEQUIM — The Sequim Library, 630 N. Sequim Ave., will offer a free training session on the use of e-reader devices at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Library staff will demonstrate how to use the library website to find e-books to check out and how to download e-books to an e-reader, especially the Barnes & Noble Nook, Amazon Kindle, Apple iPad and Sony Reader.
Bring your e-reader if you have one, though participants may attend without a device in hand.
Volunteers sought
SEQUIM — Education and outreach volunteer opportunities at the Dungeness River Audubon Center will be discussed from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
All past, present and future River Center and Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society volunteers are welcome to attend the presentation at the center at 2151 W. Hendrickson Road.
Snacks and drinks will be provided.
Gardening seminar
SEQUIM — Peninsula Nurseries, 1060 Sequim-Dungeness Way, will host a free gardening seminar at 10 a.m. Saturday.
R.T. Ball of Evergreen Enterprises will discuss how to recognize pests and diseases and how to control them.
For more information, phone 360-681-7953.
PORT TOWNSEND/JEFFERSON COUNTY
Shipwrights’ Race
PORT TOWNSEND — The sailing season will begin with the 21st annual Wooden Boat Foundation Shipwrights’ Race on Saturday.
A skippers meeting will be held at 9 a.m. at the Northwest Maritime Center, 431 Water St.
The race will begin at noon.
Sailboats of all sizes and construction are welcome.
The entry fee is $20 before Friday, $25 thereafter.
Chowder, libations and an awards ceremony will be held following the race.
For more information and a registration form, visit www.ptsail.org or phone 360-379-2759, ext. 103.
Community dance
NORDLAND — The Friends of Fort Flagler will hold a community dance at the Fort Flagler Theater at Fort Flagler State Park from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday.
Homemade Music — a local group consisting of Otto Smith, Gary Pasco, Kim Thompson and George and Jo Yount — will provide the music.
Instruction in couples dancing, contra and square dancing will be provided.
Mystery Bay Seafood will provide free chowder after the dance.
Dancing will be held from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and chowder will be served from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The cost is $10 for singles or $20 for couples or families with children.
Attendees can buy chances to win a seafood dinner for 10 catered at the winner’s home.
During the dance, guests can purchase wine and soft drinks at the no-host bar and enjoy complimentary coffee, tea and popcorn.
All proceeds from the event will go to the restoration and maintenance of Fort Flagler facilities.
Literary event
SEQUIM — A new literary event open to both writers and listeners is planned at the Rainshadow Coffee Roasting Co. today.
The Fourth Friday Readings at the cafe at 157 W. Cedar St. in downtown Sequim will blend featured writers with an open-mic section starting at 6:30 p.m.
Admission is free, and participants are invited to come early for coffee and snacks.
Friday’s debut reading brings together four writers of poetry and prose: Mary-Alice Boulter and Jim Fisher of Port Angeles, Gene Bradbury of Sequim and Sarah Zale of Port Townsend.
Writers interested in reading during Friday’s open mic will be invited to put their names in to be drawn for a five-minute reading after the featured readers.
For more details, email coordinator Ruth Marcus at Rmarcus@olypen.com or phone 360-681-2205.
Garden talk slated
PORT TOWNSEND — Ciscoe Morris will speak at the Jefferson County Master Gardeners’ Yard & Garden talk Saturday.
The talk will be at 1 p.m. in the Art Building at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, 4907 Landes St.
At the event, Morris will demonstrate different ways to design a garden to be easier to maintain without resorting to pesticides.
Morris is featured on KING-5 television’s “Gardening with Ciscoe” with Meeghan Black as well as the channel’s noon news program.
He also hosts “Gardening with Ciscoe Live” on Northwest Cable News on Fridays and has a radio show on 97.3 KIRO-FM at 10 a.m. Saturdays.
Tickets are $15 at the door.
For more information, phone 360-732-0433.
Pet-friendly event
PORT TOWNSEND — The dog-friendly PT Short Tails program is back, with two performances and an all-new program featuring performances of classic radio shows this weekend.
Pet Pals will hold two performances at the Cotton Building, 607 Water St., at 7 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.
Suggested donation is $10.
Local actors will perform scripts from popular shows of the 1940s and ‘50s, including “Gunsmoke” and “Father Knows Best,” with musical accompaniment by The Howlers, aka Captain Fever.
The fundraiser for Olympic Mountain Pet Pals welcomes well-behaved dogs and their people for the 90-minute program, which includes a break for refreshments, including dog cookies.
“In addition to the dog-themed scripts, we’ll have songs and poems for cat people,” said Pet Pals President Pam Kolacy.
“It’s always a fun, laughter-filled event for everyone, whether or not they have a dog to bring with them,” she said.
Kolacy emphasizes that any dogs who attend must be well-mannered when meeting other dogs and should be comfortable sitting quietly on a leash in a fairly confined area.
Olympic Mountain Pet Pals provides funds for the spay/neuter of pets in low-income families and for humane management of community cats.
The group also funds emergency medical care for pets when families can’t afford it.
For more information about PT Short Tails, visit www.ompetpals.org.
Mason bee lecture
GARDINER — Wild Birds Unlimited owner Christie Lassen will discuss the importance of the orchard mason bee at 9 a.m. Saturday.
Wild Birds Unlimited is located at 275953 U.S. Highway 101.
Lassen will give an hourlong family-friendly talk on the benefits of the mason bee and how to attract them and keep them in your garden.
A $5 donation to Wild Birds Unlimited’s Community Education Fund will be accepted.
For more information, phone 360-797-7100.
Trees planted
PORT TOWNSEND — Volunteers will plant trees at Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park on Saturday.
The tree-planting from 9:30 a.m. to noon is a Port Townsend Tree City USA project co-sponsored by the Admiralty Audubon Society and the Port Townsend Park, Recreation and Tree Board.
A variety of native species will be planted in the grove of trees near Kearney Street.
The trees and shrubs are from the Jefferson County Conservation District’s plant sale.
Port Townsend is one of 80 official tree cities in Washington state.
For more information, email rosemarysikes@olympus.net or phone 360-385-0307.
Youth dance party
PORT TOWNSEND — The Sweet Beats Collaborative will host an all-ages, youth-focused dance today.
The dance is planned from 9 p.m. to midnight at the Port Townsend Community Center at 620 Tyler St.
The collaborative promises disc jockeys, “bodacious decorations and a fresh juice bar.”
“Come celebrate substance-free awesomeness with us,” the group says.
For more information, contact Camille Cody at 828-215-2465 or ellimac07@bellsouth.net.