CLALLAM BAY — Ready for more fireworks?
Clallam Bay-Sekiu Fun Days will feature a parade, an arts and crafts fair and a fireworks show this weekend in a three-day festival that begins today.
“It’s our annual celebration. A lot of families use it for their reunion time,” said Patricia Hutson-English, Clallam Bay fire chief and Fun Days chairwoman.
The festival, a tradition for some 30 years, is organized by a variety of community members, Hutson-English said.
It’s always planned for a weekend separate from the Forks Fourth of July celebration, she said, giving visitors a chance to enjoy fireworks and festivities on two weekends in July.
Events will be at multiple locations in Clallam Bay and Sekiu today through Sunday, with the highlights of the festival on Saturday.
Saturday’s Grand Parade, led by the Kids Parade, will start at 11 a.m. at on Weel Road, and continue down state Highway 112 to Morgan’s Drive In, 16712 State Highway 112 in Clallam Bay.
By Thursday, 15 had registered for the parade. Hutson-English expected that number to swell to between 25 and 50 by the day of the parade.
After the parade, a fireworks auction at the Clallam Bay bus garage will raise funds for next year’s show.
Also at the garage, horses and a petting zoo will be
available for children.
Saturday’s fireworks will begin at dusk.
Presented by Breakwater Inn, they will be launched from the Olson Resort Breakwater in Sekiu and explode over the bay.
“We think we have the best fireworks on the [North Olympic] Peninsula,” Hutson-English said.
The fireworks always draw a large crowd, she said.
“The beaches are completely full by 6 or 7 at night,” she said.
Today
Today, the Messy Palettes Arts and Crafts Fair will open at the Sekiu Community Center at 42 Rice St.
It will run from noon to 5 p.m. today, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
An amateur photo contest also begins today.
Entires can be dropped off at the Clallam Bay-Sekiu Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center at 16795 state Highway 112 in the center of Clallam Bay.
Photographs will be displayed today through Sunday. Visitors can vote for their favorites, and ribbons will be awarded on Sunday.
Chito Beach Resort will pay the entry fee into the Clallam County Fair, scheduled Aug. 18-21, for the best of show two first-place winners, said Brian Harmon, resort owner.
Also today, a potluck social will begin at 6 p.m. at the Clallam Bay bus garage.
Loose Gravel will perform.
Saturday
Saturday’s schedule begins early and runs late. The schedule is:
■ 8:30 a.m. — Registration begins for both the co-ed vollyball tournament, in the Clallam Bay School gym, and for the bicycle poker run, in the school’s parking lot.
■ 9 a.m. — The volleyball tournament begins in the school gym and will continue until evening, while the poker run, which will wend its way through Clallam Bay in a mile-long route, also will begin.
Lineup and judging for the parade will begin on Weel Road.
■ 10 a.m. — The Clallam Bay-Sekiu Lions Club’s barbecue in the parking lot of Gary’s Pay and Save, 16755 Frontier St. in Clallam Bay, will begin.
The arts and crafts show will open for the day.
■ 11 a.m. — The Kids Parade and Grand Parde will begin, followed by a the fireworks auction and petting zoo at the bus garage.
■ Dusk — Fireworks launched.
Sunday
The celebration doesn’t end with fireworks. Sunday’s schedule is:
■ 9 a.m. — Registration will begin at Herb’s Motel, 411 Front St., for a 3.7-mile fun run.
■ 10 a.m. — Fun run begins.
■ Noon — arts and show opens.
Sometime Sunday morning, ribbons will be awarded in the photo contest.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.