PORT TOWNSEND — Nearly 300 items and adventure experiences will go to the highest bidders during the Port Townsend Marine Science Center’s seventh annual Tides of March auction.
The silent and live auctions will begin at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, 4907 Landes St., Port Townsend, at 5 p.m.. Saturday.
Although the auction will have seating available for 250, only 20 to 25 seats were unclaimed as of Thursday, so those interested in attending are urged to make reservations today.
Registration is $45 for both members of the center and nonmembers.
Fun event
“The auction continues to be a wonderful, fun community event with unique, one-of-a-kind items to bid on,” said Meredith Lowry, auction chairwoman.
“We have pretty cool stuff,” she added.
“I love some of the really different adventure packages. You can go fishing, white-water rafting, fly in an airplane — a lot of very different things.”
Appetizers prepared by more than 20 chefs will grace the silent auction.
During the live auction, participants will be seated at tables and served wine, beer, soft drinks and desserts.
Saturday’s auction is the marine science center’s biggest fundraiser of the year. Organizers hope to raise about $70,000.
All proceeds will go to the center’s educational programs and to support the mission of the center.
Sampler of items
A featured auction item includes tickets for two to see Maya Angelou at the Paramount Theatre on Monday, with loge balcony seating and access to the Paramount club with bartenders and complimentary hors d’oeuvres.
Other items include a flight in a 1931 Student Prince biplane around the Quimper Peninsula, river rafting for two down the Elwha River, a weekend getaway to Victoria with round-trip fare on the MV Coho and high tea at the Fairmont Empress Hotel, and a kayak tour of Tarboo-Dabob Bay with aquatic biologist Peter Bahls, founder of the Northwest Watershed Institute.
Other items
Or participants can bid on a private tour of the treasures of Seattle’s Burke Museum with mammal collections manager Jeff Bradley — with a special look at a rare, antique orca skeleton — a behind-the-scenes tour of the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., or a dinner for six with Port Townsend mountaineer Jim Whittaker — the first American to reach the summit of Mount Everest — and his wife, Diane Roberts.
The auction is sponsored by John L. Scott Real Estate.
To register, phone 360-385-5582, ext. 104, or visit www.ptmsc.org and click on “PTMSC Auction” to get to a downloadable registration form.