SEQUIM — A 38-year-old Sequim service club has cooked up a new idea: Spotlighting mom-and-pop shops.
East Clallam County still has plenty of them, and starting Thursday the Kiwanis Club of Sequim-Dungeness will choose one each month and pay it full attention, said club spokesman Shell McGuire.
The first Kiwanis Business of the Month is Dungeness Bay Wine and Cheese, the downtown Sequim store founded by the late Jean Haught on inspiration born of a family trip to Europe.
It was the 1990s and Sequim was a tiny town. Haught built an enticing haven, filling the place with wines from Italy and France — and then adding lots more from locals, such as Harbinger Winery west of Port Angeles.
Next she mixed chocolates, gourmet goodies, a selection of world-music compact discs and a display case full of fancy cheeses.
Last summer, Haught died suddenly of complications from a stroke. Now her eldest son, Craig, runs the store, along with his fiancee, Kim Farrell, and family friend, Sharon Blake.
The shop at 123 E. Washington St. is still brimming with food and wine from nearby producers, and “people want local,” Blake said Tuesday afternoon.
Wine-and-cheese tastings draw people in during the First Friday Art Walk, held from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the first Friday of each month; recently the event celebrated six boutique wineries in Washington, Craig Haught said.
In addition to the evening hours on the first Friday, the shop is open from noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
“We’ve been putting a lot of effort into it,” said Farrell, who is also co-owner of White Cup Espresso at Third Avenue and Washington Street.
She and her fiance work together every Saturday at Dungeness Bay.
Referring to Farrell and Blake, Haught added that “without those two, it would be really difficult” to maintain his shop’s welcoming atmosphere.
The Kiwanis Club has begun the Business of the Month award to encourage people to shop locally, said McGuire.
The club will present a plaque to a locally owned, for-profit business each month — and invite the proprietor to give a short talk on the firm’s own involvement in the community — during one of the Kiwanis lunches held weekly at the Paradise Restaurant, 703 N. Sequim Ave.
From now on, McGuire said, the club will choose by random drawing a business of the month. To qualify, the business must have been open for at least one year in the Sequim-Dungeness area.
This is part of the club’s mission to enhance the community’s well-being via a collection of projects, he added. Kiwanis provides take-home books for each elementary school student in the Sequim School District; yearly scholarships for selected Sequim students; gifts of time and money to nonprofits such as First Teacher, Healthy Families of Clallam County and Sequim Community Aid; and donations of refurbished bicycles to groups and individuals.
“We are small in number,” with just 16 members, “but very active,” McGuire said, adding that another new project has the club working with Olypen.com to donate refurbished computers to low-income families.
The club also helps fund the Northwest Kiwanis Club at Beausite Lake every summer. The camp, for children and adults with special needs, serves 25 campers during each weeklong session and has a staff of 20 counselors plus a team of volunteers, including Port Angeles artist and teacher Bob Stokes.
The Kiwanis Club of Sequim-Dungeness welcomes guests at its lunches each Thursday, McGuire said, and newcomers are invited to apply for membership.
For information, phone 360-681-0805 or visit www.Sequim-DungenessKiwanis.org.
________
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.