BLYN — It could be argued that Christmas in Sequim would look much different were it not for the Allen brothers and the entities they lead.
Jerry Allen is chief executive officer of 7 Cedars Resort, a casino and hotel in Blyn. His brother, W. Ron Allen, is longtime chair and CEO of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, the main campus which is near 7 Cedars.
Under the Allen brothers’ leadership, the resort and tribe for years have funded colorful Christmas lights displays at various Jamestown S’Klallam properties in the Blyn, Dungeness and Sequim areas.
What began in 2004, when Jerry Allen didn’t think twice about paying a stunned contractor $20,000 just to string lights on the exterior of the casino — the hotel hadn’t been built yet — has turned into an all-out, no-expense-spared annual tradition that serves as a Christmas gift for visitors.
Over the years, as Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe enterprises have expanded, so have the number of lights. They now number more than 3 million and the budget is about a half-million dollars. The project is so large that crews with P. Walker Inc. of Gig Harbor — the company founded by the college student Jerry Allen hired more than 20 years ago — begin stringing the lights in October.
This year, 7 Cedars, in coordination with the tribe, is taking the Christmas lights excitement up a notch.
Next level
What 7 Cedars has planned likely will provide a welcome boost to local tourism during the offseason, said Beth Pratt, executive director of the Sequim-Dungeness Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Information Center.
Starting Saturday, 7 Cedars will offer Holiday Light Tours for $15 per person, with tours departing from the hotel’s front entrance. The excursions aren’t just for hotel guests; they’re for the general public as well.
Erick Miller, an assistant marketing director for 7 Cedars Resort Properties, said the tours will travel to all of the lighted properties owned by the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, including the Railroad Bridge by the Dungeness River Nature Center. A tour guide will offer a brief history of each site.
The ticket price includes a small gift and a complimentary drink from Jamestown Java in the hotel lobby.
Space will be limited, and reservations can be made at the front desk, Miller said. Tours will be offered Monday through Thursday at 6 p.m. and Friday through Sunday at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Hotel guests who book the Holiday Lights package will have the tour included in their stay. The package includes discounted front-facing hotel rooms with views of the lights at 7 Cedars, Longhouse Market and the Jamestown campus, plus freeplay vouchers and coffee vouchers.
The Holiday Light Tours aren’t the only thing happening at 7 Cedars during the Christmas season. On Saturday, the resort will host a flipping of the switch event from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. with food and drinks available, photos with Santa and live music.
Christmas Movies with Santa will take place from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. every Saturday in December at the newly renovated, heated and enclosed hotel patio, which features a large video screen and “awesome sound,” Miller said.
Those events are free and open to the public, and food and drinks will be available.
The interdepartmental gingerbread house competition at 7 Cedars will be expanded to let local businesses get in on the fun.
The public can view the display from Dec. 5-31 and vote on their favorites. Employees will win prizes, and the top three businesses will win a combined $3,000 donation from 7 Cedars to be given to a nonprofit of their choice.
Free holiday season musical entertainment will include Three Too Many (Nov. 26); Danny Vernon’s Elvis Christmas Spectacular (Dec. 21); Olson Bros. Band (Dec. 27); various music in the lobby all day (Dec. 31); and, on New Year’s Eve, Harmonious Funk Band.
“The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and 7 Cedars Resort are proud to provide an uplifting Christmas experience in Blyn, on our properties in Sequim, and at The Cedars at Dungeness Golf Course,” W. Ron Allen said. “This annual, heartfelt commitment is intended to give back to the community for our great relationships as well as patronage of 7 Cedars and our JCare properties (Jamestown Family Health Clinic, Jamestown Family Dental Clinic, The Healing Clinic).
“The December winter months are times about family and community, and as we prepare for a New Year, we hope these holiday decorations remind us all of the blessings each bring us.”
Jerry Allen said the Christmas lights experience at the 7 Cedars properties “has been nothing but exceptional” and that the millions of lights that are part of what has become a holiday tradition have brought joy to many.
“Many times people bring their children — and children bring their parents — to enjoy the spirit of Christmas that we are honored to be a part of,” he said.
Part of the plan
Pratt said she is excited about the new dimension to local tourism that will be brought through the tours.
She said it fits with a five-year plan developed by the Tourism Council under the leadership of the Olympic Peninsula Visitor Bureau. Part of that plan, Pratt said, is to promote tourism during the “shoulder season” — the months in between larger tourist-drawing events such as the Irrigation Festival, Lavender Weekend and Port Angeles’ Crab Fest.
“The holiday light display in Blyn is a key part of that, and the expansion of their tours of the light displays on all of the tribal properties is going to be a great addition to the option for holiday season tourists to our region,” Pratt wrote in an email.
“We have been talking about how, if you live in a city, it is like coming into a Hallmark movie if you spend a weekend in Sequim during the holiday season.”
In addition to enjoying the tribe’s Christmas lights, visitors can attend a city band concert or an Olympic Theatre Arts show, visit local restaurants and craft shows or watch the Lighted Tractor Cruise, Pratt said.
“What could be more flannel shirt and hot chocolate than that?” she wrote.
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Kathy Cruz is the editor of the Sequim Gazette of the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which also is composed of other Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News and Forks Forum. She can be reached by email at kathy.cruz@sequimgazette.com.
What became a partnership between 7 Cedars Hotel and Casino and the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe began in 2004 when 7 Cedars CEO Jerry Allen, pictured in the hotel’s lobby, hired a contractor who had decorated his sister-in-law’s house in Gig Harbor to string lights at the casino. (Kathy Cruz/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
