PORT TOWNSEND — Sound Experience has exceeded its fundraising goal for the schooner Adventuress.
The nonprofit group that owns the tall ship, which is based in Port Townsend, asked contributors to give $29 for 29 days, aiming to solicit donations of $52,000.
By Saturday afternoon, the campaign had raised $55,636. That included a $1,000 matching pledge from a former crew member offered anonymously.
The fundraiser officially ended at midnight Saturday.
“We met our target and then blew right past it,” said Sound Experience Executive Director Catherine Collins.
“Getting that matching pledge was really inspiring, because it came from someone who first was on the Adventuress when she was 11.”
The crew member benefited from educational programs, and her contribution — along with everything else raised during this campaign — will help fund those programs.
According to Sound Experience, 10,013 people crossed the decks of the Adventuress this season, with 4,219 of these participating in more than 95 programs, most of them three-hour sails.
On Friday, the Adventuress, built in 1913, is scheduled to travel to Lake Union Park in Seattle to participate in holiday events along with other historical vessels.
It will return to Port Townsend around the first of the year for the next phase of renovation, which will include work on the mainsail, the foresail and the tail shaft.
The repairs will be conducted in partnership with the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding, with the new sails constructed using student labor.
The sailing season will begin in March, with next year’s program the last prior to the boat’s 2013 centennial.
For more information or to donate, visit www.soundexp.org, phone 360-379-0438 or send a check to Sound Experience, P.O. Box 1390, Port Townsend, WA 98368.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.