AGNEW — Historic Agnew Grocery & Feed became “Big Nate’s” earlier this week to serve as the backdrop for a television commercial to promote the Washington State Lottery.
Store owner Chris Frankfurth on Tuesday morning turned over the better part of his parking lot at 2863 Old Olympic Highway to director Tony Fulghan and the film crew of World Famous of Seattle to shoot the ad.
Jean Flynn, state lottery marketing director, said the ad will air in February, a part of the “Dream Bigger” campaign.
“We’re trying to tell people to dream big, not just paying the bills with their lottery winnings,” Flynn said.
“We will be taking motorcycles to a whole new level,” Flynn added, hinting at the theme of the fun, whimsical commercial without giving it away at the Agnew location.
Crew members asked that no photos of the props and actors be shot so as to keep it secret until airtime, though anyone driving by on Old Olympic Highway could see it in plain sight.
The crew was in Port Townsend on Wednesday shooting another ad on Water Street (see accompanying story on homepage).
That ad will promote a new Powerball structure that greatly increases a player’s chance of winning a million dollars, according to Flynn.
It had actor Rhyan Schwartz walking down Water Street both alone and leading a miniature horse supplied by Glenda Cable of Sequim.
Cable was on hand to care for her horses, Tex and Q.T., who look enough alike to alternate in the shots with Schwartz.
Washington State Lottery is known for its comic, whimsical TV commercials, two of which were filmed in Sequim.
Last year, a production crew filmed ads in front of Pondicherri, a shop on East Washington Street in downtown Sequim, and another in a resident’s backyard nearby.
Both ads were produced with comic themes, including bird droppings for lottery picks and a Velcro-covered man on a trampoline.
Film location scout Peter Allen, who just happened upon the Agnew store while looking for a location, said part of the reason it was chosen was the Dungeness Valley’s winter weather.
“The rain shadow was a factor,” he said, adding that Port Townsend on the Quimper Peninsula was chosen for the same reason — less chance for rain.
The rain shadow, a weather phenomenon created by the Olympic Mountains, in effect forces rain clouds into a pattern that travels around, rather than over, Port Angeles and the Dungeness Valley and Port Townsend.
It extends to Whidbey Island and the San Juan Islands.
Allen said he was actively looking for a roadside diner when he found the Agnew store.
Over the past two years, Frankfurth has remodeled the roadside attraction with a feed store and farm animals — even a small hay-bale-lined barn for parties.
Frankfurth had to keep his friendly chocolate Labrador and storefront greeter, Mocha, inside the store Tuesday morning so she wouldn’t walk onto the film set.
The crew of about 20 production people and actors dressed as bikers rolled in with big trucks that included film equipment and a luxurious lunch that was set up behind the store, complete with white tablecloths on picnic tables.
The location was a natural as a backdrop for a TV commercial or film, Frankfurth said.
“It’s so unique out here and so beautiful,” Frankfurth said of the store surrounded by farmland with a panoramic view of the Olympic Mountains. “Any kind of publicity I think is good for the area.”
He said it probably helped that the store sells lottery tickets.
“We had a $1,000 winner here once,” he said.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant contributed to this report.