Two galas on the North Olympic Peninsula — in Port Angeles and Port Townsend — will give you a chance to dress up in your finest, walk the red carpet and watch the Academy Awards next Sunday.
Port Townsend
Poetry, Irish whiskey, doorstep popcorn, haute couture.
All of the above will be part of the Academy Awards ceremonies — Port Townsend-style — in “The Envelope, Please,” the annual Oscar party presented by the Port Townsend Film Festival.
“Come wanting to feel glamorous,” said Amanda Steurer, mistress of ceremonies for the bash.
She will float up the red carpet at the American Legion Hall, 209 Monroe St., in a Matthew Christopher couture gown.
Sound a little costly and uppity?
Janette Force, Port Townsend Film Festival executive director, vehemently disagrees.
Tickets to the party — which include hors d’oeuvres, dinner, prizes for the best star look-alikes and dessert served during the Oscarcast’s commercial breaks — are $40.
That, said Force, “is a very good deal,” considering the dinner is by Uptown Custom Catering with embellishments by Pane d’Amore.
Force said she strove to keep the price down even if the event doesn’t make much money for the film festival fund.
“I always lean toward the inclusive model,” she said. “I’m so over the idea that we need to be exclusive.”
“The Envelope, Please” will start early, at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, with the laying-out of the red carpet.
Then comes the parade of auction items, which vary from the usual fare.
Some highlights: an evening of poetry and Irish whiskey-tasting with Sequim poet and naturalist Tim McNulty, a private film screening at the Rose Theatre’s intimate Rosebud cinema, and for DVD watchers, weekly home deliveries of popcorn from Port Townsend’s Rose Theatre.
Rose owner Rocky Friedman “realized what his most precious commodity is,” Force said of the popcorn.
As for the whiskey and poetry, “I shamelessly solicited Tim” early one morning, “and he was too sleepy to say no.”
Proceeds from Sunday’s Oscar party, the sixth annual, will benefit the Port Townsend Film Institute’s special programs.
These include a showing of the movie “Pax,” about the eponymous therapy dog who helps an Iraq war veteran heal — and the Washington state women’s prison program where the dogs are raised — at the Rose Theatre on Sunday, March 6.
Force is arranging to bring at least one member of the “Pax” cast and crew to Port Townsend for questions and answers after the screening.
The film institute, the nonprofit behind the Port Townsend Film Festival, also holds salon discussions at the Rose, at 235 Taylor St., on the first Tuesday evening of each month.
The next will follow the 7 p.m. screening of “The Illusionist” on March 1.
Now back to the Oscar party.
Dinner will be served at 4:45 p.m. so patrons can be in their seats in time for the 5 p.m. start of the broadcast, hosted this year by James Franco and Anne Hathaway.
It will be a celebration of the joys of good cinema, if Force and Steurer have their way.
“My favorite thing about the Oscars,” Steurer said, “is the celebration of film and those who dedicate their lives to tell stories through film.”
Last year’s party sold out, Force added.
She urges Oscar fans to phone the film institute office at 360-379-1333 or visit ptfilmfest.com.
Tickets are also on sale at the Food Co-op, 414 Kearney St.; at Quimper Sound, 230 Taylor St.; and at the Port Townsend Film Festival office at 211 Taylor St.
Port Angeles
“Ax Men” TV stars Craig, Gabe and Jason Rygaard will serve as the honorary chairs and help preside over activities at the Olympic Medical Center Foundation’s fundraising event “Hollywood Nights,” presented by First Federal.
It will be held at the Vern Burton Community Center, 308 E. Fourth St., at 4 p.m. next Sunday.
The event will feature a live telecast of the Oscars on three screens — one of 20 feet and two of 12 feet.
Reserved seating is available for $60 per person.
Tickets are available at Necessities & Temptations, 217 N. Laurel St., and the Olympic Medical Center Foundation, 928 Caroline St.
More details can be obtained by phoning the foundation office at 360-417-7144.
“First Federal is pleased to support this Olympic Medical Center Foundation event,” said Gina Lowman, First Federal’s senior vice president for sales and marketing.
“The North Olympic Peninsula is fortunate to have the state-of-the-art facilities and services OMC provides.”
The fundraiser will include the following:
• Dinner and a walk down the red carpet.
• “Guess the Winners” contest. A ballot accompanies each ticket, and participants who select the most Oscar winners will win prizes.
• Live and silent auctions and raffle prizes.
• The option to enter the “Dress as Your Favorite Movie Star or Character” contest, with prizes for the winners.
Proceeds from “Hollywood Nights” will benefit Olympic Medical Center and departments such as home health, obstetrics, emergency room, cardiac services, laboratory and radiology.
Craig Rygaard, co-vice president of Rygaard Logging, formed the now-nationally known logging company in 1993 with the help of sons Gabe and Jason.
The company received its first national TV appearance in March 2008 on an episode of “America’s Toughest Jobs.”
From there, the Rygaard family began gaining celebrity status when Rygaard Logging was asked to join the second season of History Channel’s hit reality TV show “Ax Men.”
Rygaard Logging finished season No. 2 of “Ax Men” with a boom, being crowned “King of the Mountain” by winning the load count, and it came in second in season No. 3, falling to rival J.M. Browning of Astoria, Ore., by just three loads.
The company is now in its third season of “Ax Men” and is the only crew that will appear on every episode this year as it fights for the top spot.
