SEQUIM — The Dungeness River Audubon Center wants to rename its annual fundraiser, Dungeness Spring Fling, and is asking the public to help.
The phrase has become a cliché, said Powell Jones, executive director of the center at Railroad Bridge Park, 2151 W. Hendrickson Road.
Contestants may submit as many alternative names as they wish before the deadline, March 14.
Team leaders from Spring Fling 2013 will review the entries, and the river center board will select the wining entry.
The winner will receive free admission to Spring Fling special events this year.
The monthlong Spring Fling enlists teams to do a variety of activities to raise funds for the center.
Last year, the members of the Broom Busters, Dirty Face Racing, Green Gardeners, Sand Dollars, Spring Strollers and Swift Swallows walked, biked, birded, gardened, sanded driftwood, hiked, ran and pulled scotch broom from May 1-31.
$1,000 a day
Together, Spring Fling participants and their sponsors raised nearly $28,000 — nearly $1,000 a day, according to Julie Jackson of the center.
Since 2009, Dungeness Spring Fling has raised more than $108,000 to support education programs of the Dungeness River Audubon Center and maintain Railroad Bridge Park, she said.
Suggested names should be sent to juliejackson@wavecable.com with the subject line “Spring Fling Contest” or mail them to Spring Fling Contest, Dungeness River Audubon Center, P.O. Box 2450, Sequim, WA 98382.
The river center operates in partnership with the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society and the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe.
The area is in a designated “important bird area” with more than 125 species of birds, of which many can be seen during free Wednesday morning bird walks.
To learn more about the river center and its programs, visit www.dungenessrivercenter.org or Facebook, or drop by the center.
The center is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and from noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Admission is free.
