Opportunities abound on the North Olympic Peninsula to try new things the first weekend of 2012.
Among them: A new train club is having its first meeting. A free women’s self-defense seminar is offered. Members of a spinning and weaving guild will walk the curious through the steps of doing it themselves.
Those are in addition to concerts, walks and other events planned this weekend.
For more about arts and entertainment events, see Peninsula Spotlight, the Peninsula Daily News’ weekly entertainment guide, in today’s print edition and e-edition online.
Other events are in the “Things to Do” calendar, available online via the dropdown above.
Port Angeles
Train lovers’ club
PORT ANGELES — Fresh off the successful Christmas Train on Dec. 17, the George Washington Live Steamers will hold their first club meeting Saturday.
The meeting will be at 1 p.m. at the George Washington Inn, 939 Finn Hall Road.
Coffee and tea will be served.
More than 300 people enjoyed a live steam train ride on a narrow gauge railroad set up at the George Washington Inn one day last month.
The free rides were offered by a newly formed club of Olympic Peninsula train enthusiasts, the George Washington Live Steamers.
Those who want to join the club — the first live steam club on the Olympic Peninsula — are urged to attend.
For more information, email info@GWSteamers.org or visit www.GWSteamers.org.
Checkpoints group
PORT ANGELES — The Stop the Checkpoints group will meet at the Port Angeles Library on Saturday.
The group will meet from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the archive room at the library at 2210 S. Peabody St.
The event is free and open to the public.
For more information, phone Lois Danks at 360-452-7534.
Benefit concert
PORT ANGELES — A “Season of Light” festival concert benefit for the Olympic Community Action Programs’ Arts & Minds Memory Wellness Program is planned Sunday.
The concert will be at 2 p.m. at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 510 E. Park Ave.
It will include performances by local choirs, the Early Music Ensemble, Sacred Dance, Old Time Fiddlers and on the church’s Kenneth Coulter pipe organ.
Admission is by donation.
Proceeds will support the nonprofit prevention and support program for family and friends concerned with early memory loss.
The Arts & Minds Memory Wellness Program was the recipient of the 2010 Clallam County Public Health Hero Award for “Innovative Program.”
For more information, phone Jim Couture at 360-457-6801 or email jcouture@olycap.org.
Learn self-defense
PORT ANGELES — Phoenix Dragon Martial Arts is offering a free Women’s Self Defense and Fitness seminar Saturday.
The seminar will be from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the business at 1025 E. First St.
The seminar is open to all ages. Mother-daughter registration is encouraged.
Space is limited.
To register, phone instructor Meghan Ventura at 360-808-7303.
Avalanche awareness
PORT ANGELES — A free avalanche awareness course will be held at Sound Bikes and Kayaks, 120 E. Front St., from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. today.
The course is sponsored by the Friends of the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center.
Participants will learn where to find information and how to interpret avalanche reports, the gear necessary when traveling in avalanche terrain and how to assess the risks.
The course will be led by Port Townsend native Tyler Reed, an American Mountain Guides Association-certified ski mountaineering guide, an American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education avalanche course instructor and owner of Pacific Alpine Guides.
For more information, phone Frank Crippen at 360-452-5144.
Hospice memorial
PORT ANGELES — Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County will hold a memorial ceremony Saturday.
The ceremony from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the hospice house, 540 E. Eighth St., will be to remember hospice patients who died in hospice care in 2011 and those whose names were put on the annual Hospice Memorial Tree.
Family and friends are welcome to attend the memorial.
For more information, phone 360-452-1511.
Weight loss challenge
PORT ANGELES — The weigh-in for the Olympic Weight Loss Challenge will be tonight and Saturday.
Registration and weigh-in will be from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. today and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Therapeutic Associates Physical Therapy, 1114 Georgiana St. in Port Angeles.
The contest, which costs $100 to enter, will end March 30 with a weigh-out at Therapeutic Associates.
Contestants have the chance to win $500 grand prizes in six categories: three for men and three for women for ages 18-34, 35-50 and 50-plus.
The person who loses the highest percentage of weight in each category will win the grand prize.
Half of the remaining proceeds will be donated to Volunteers in Medicine of the Olympics, or VIMO, and half will be divided among competitors who lose at least 5 percent of their body weight.
During the first three weeks, there will be weight loss and fitness seminars for participants, and all participants will be offered injury screenings and discounts on gym memberships and personal training.
The contest is the brainchild of Bonnie Stehr, who decided to turn her desire to lose 50 pounds into a contest that will reward the successful and contribute to charity.
Stehr works at Therapeutic Associates and volunteers with VIMO.
Adventure Travel
PORT ANGELES — Elston and Jackie Hill will present a slide show of the creatures of the Pantanal, which is mostly in Brazil, during the first 2012 Adventure Travel Series program tonight.
“The Pantanal: The Most Concentrated and Exotic Wildlife Viewing in the Americas” will begin at 7 p.m. at the Port Angeles Senior Center, 328 E. Seventh St.
Admission is $5, with children younger than 12 admitted free.
Proceeds will go toward the purchase of supplies and lunches for volunteers working on the Olympic Discovery Trail.
The Pantanal, 1,000 miles from Sao Paulo, is a wetland in the center of the South American continent that is said to have the greatest concentration of fauna in the Americas.
The Peninsula Trails Coalition hosts the series, which will continue Jan. 13 with John Wegmann presenting “North of the Bay of Bengal: Travels in Bangladesh,” on Jan. 20 with Linda Crow on “Hidden Papua New Guinea” and Jan. 27 with Bill and LaVonne Mueller on “The Galapagos. . .Twice is Nice!”
For more information, phone Gunvor Hildal at 360-452-8641 or Gail Hall at 360-808-4223.
Saturday Science
PORT ANGELES — Energy production and conservation will be the topic of a program for children 7-12 years old at the Port Angeles Library on Saturday.
The program will be at 2 p.m. at the library at 2210 S. Peabody St.
Mattias Jarvegren of the Clallam County Public Utility District will present the program, which is a continuation of the North Olympic Library System’s Saturday Science program series.
Saturday Science programs are the first Saturday of each month. They are offered free of charge, with no preregistration needed.
On Feb. 4, Heidi Pedersen from the Olympic Coast Discovery Center will discuss the world’s oceans.
On March 3, Eric Palenik, Olympic Medical Center physical therapy and rehabilitation operations manager, will talk about movement and physical fitness.
All programs demonstrate interactive science activities, and presenters will talk about how they use science in their daily work and lives.
The program is supported by the Port Angeles Friends of the Library.
For information on this and other programs for youths, phone 360-417-8502, visit www.nols.org, or email youth@nols.org.
Diabetes support
PORT ANGELES — The first meeting of the Type I Diabetes Family Support Group will be held at 6 p.m. Friday.
The event will be part of the Clallam County Family YMCA’s First Friday Family Night at the Y.
The YMCA is located at 302 S. Francis St.
First Friday Family Nights begin at 5:30 p.m.
The public is welcome.
Sequim
Try weaving
SEQUIM — The North Olympic Shuttle and Spindle Guild will have several types of looms and weaving styles set up for exploration Saturday.
The free event will be held at the Sequim Library, 630 N. Sequim Ave., at 12:30 p.m.
Members of the guild will have a number of spinning wheels and looms set up and will be present to answer questions and help demonstrate weaving skills.
Refreshments will be provided.
For more information about the event, phone 360-460-7477.
For more details about the guild, visit www.nossg.org.
Retiree reception
SEQUIM — A reception for Bob Boekelheide, who has directed the center for the past decade, will be held Sunday from 1 p.m to 3 p.m. at the Dungeness River Audubon Center, 2152 W. Hendrickson Road.
RSVP Julie Jackson at 360-683-1355 or juliejackson@wavecable.com.
For more information, visit www.dungenessrivercenter.org.
Thrift shop open
SEQUIM — The Sequim Dungeness Hospital Guild’s Thrift Shop will be open Saturday.
The shop, which is at Second and Bell streets in Sequim, will be open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Holiday items have been replaced with furniture, home accessories, gently used winter clothing, kitchen utensils and dishware.
Volunteers are still needed, and consignments may be made during the regular business week.
For more information, phone 360-683-7044.
Bird lecture series
SEQUIM — “Birds: The Inside Story,” part of the Dungeness River Audubon Center’s Backyard Birder series, will be held Saturday.
The event will be held at the center, 2151 W. Hendrickson Road, from 10 a.m. to noon.
Cost is $5.
For more information, phone 360-681-4076.
Artist at bookstore
SEQUIM — Local artist Jean Wyatt will be featured at Pacific Mist Books, 121 W. Washington St., during the first First Friday Art Walk of the year from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. today.
Calendars, note cards and whimsical floor cloths will be on display.
Refreshments from Cameron’s Cafe and chocolate creations from Cocoa d’Amici will be served.
Those who stop by during the January Art Walk can enter a drawing for a dip into the Free Book Basket.
Port Townsend/ Jefferson County
Kennewick dedicated
PORT TOWNSEND — The MV Kennewick car ferry will be dedicated today.
The speeches will begin at 11 a.m. at the Port Townsend ferry dock and are expected to continue for 30 minutes.
After the speeches, the $60 million vessel, which will be moored in the terminal’s second slip, will be open to the public for informal, self-guided tours until 1 p.m.
Although the Kennewick will be dedicated today, it won’t begin work on the Port Townsend-Coupeville route until later this month, after the crew has finished training, said ferry spokeswoman Susan Harris Huether, who could provide no specific date Tuesday.
Once on the route, the Kennewick will replace the MV Salish, continuing the present one-boat service while the Salish is used as a backup vessel throughout the state ferries system through the winter and spring.
In May, the Salish will join the Kennewick to provide two-boat service through the summer months.
During the tour, the Wild Rose Chorale and Airstream Travelers will perform on the ferry.
Volunteers plant trees
PORT TOWNSEND — Volunteers will plant trees along Snow Creek on Saturday.
They will work in an area just west of the intersection of state Highway 20 and U.S. Highway 101 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The North Olympic Salmon Coalition, which restores habitat for salmon, plans to plant 11,945 trees along salmon-bearing streams this season, with 5,550 of those along Snow Creek, said Jac Entringer, outreach and volunteer coordinator.
Gloves and tools will be provided. Volunteers should bring outdoor clothing, rain gear and a snack or lunch .
She would prefer people RSVP, but volunteers can just show up. The site is off West Uncas Road, which is just west of where state Highway 20 meets U.S. Highway 101.
Look for an NOSC sign and park at the beginning of a dirt road to the left, Entringer said.
From there, walk down the road to the planting site.
Parking space is limited, so carpooling is suggested.
Volunteers can RSVP Entringer at 360-379-8051 or jentringer@nosc.org.
Steinbeck’s footsteps
PORT TOWNSEND — Poulsbo author John Olson will tell of his travels retracing those of John Steinbeck during the Jefferson County Historical Society’s First Friday Lecture.
He will speak at 7 p.m. Friday in Port Townsend’s historic City Council chamber at 540 Water St., Port Townsend.
Admission will be by donation. Proceeds will support historical society programs.
Olson will discuss his book Down John’s Road: Recreating John Steinbeck’s 1960 American Road Trip.
Fifty years after Steinbeck traveled America with his dog, Charley, Olson followed the same route in reverse.
He traveled 12,751 miles in 80 days.
Olson’s book will be available for purchase and signing at the event and is currently available in the Museum Shop at the Jefferson County Museum.
Guided nature walk
PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson Land Trust will offer a guided nature walk, “Listening to Winter in the Wetlands,” in the Quimper Wildlife Corridor on Saturday.
The free walk guided by Erik Kingfisher, the land trust’s stewardship director, will be from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Participants will meet at Hendricks and 49th streets at 10 a.m.
The Quimper Wildlife Corridor is a ribbon of public and private land across the north Quimper Peninsula that provides safe passage for native wildlife, maintains a natural flood water control system, protects existing habitat and water quality, and provides open space and recreation opportunities.
The walk is described as “easy” but is on uneven terrain.
Participants are asked to wear weather-appropriate footwear and clothing.
For more information, phone 360-379-9501.
Storytelling event set
PORT TOWNSEND — Brian Rohr, the usual host of the Mythsinger Foundation’s First Friday Storynight event, will serve as featured teller Friday.
First Friday Storynight will be held at Better Living Through Coffee, 100 Tyler St., from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
As Rohr prepares to leave Port Townsend for his winter tour of the South and Southwest, he will present “Drumming the Mythic Heart: An Evening of Sacred Storytelling.”
In this program, Rohr invites the listener to follow the rhythm of the drum to the complex and mythic heart of the story, a place where “we ourselves live, breathe and dance among the ancient tales.”
He tells stories from cultures such as Tibetan, Native American, Jewish, Russian and Borneo.
Suggested donation is $10.
For more information on this event, phone Rohr at 360-531-2535 or visit www.brianrohr.com.
Musical revue on tap
PORT TOWNSEND — The modern musical revue “And I, Pluto’s Only Cactus” will be performed at the Chameleon Theater, 800 W. Park Ave, at 8 p.m. today and Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday.
In the show, Blade, a superhero at night and owner of a roller-rink by day, contends with losing his superpowers.
Tested by this discovery and with the help of his friends, he decides whether to try to regain his powers or let them erode.
Tickets are $12 at the Food Co-op, 414 Kearney St.; online at www.brownpapertickets.com; or at the door.
For more information, phone 360-379-1068 or visit www.goatrocket.com.
Forks/West End
Masons breakfast
FORKS — Mount Olympus Masonic Lodge No. 298 will hold an all-you-can-eat breakfast from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.
The lodge is located on West Division Street in Forks.
Requested donation is $8 for adults, $5 for seniors 65 and older, and free for kids younger than 10.
Those who donate two or more nonperishable food items will receive $1 off their meal.
Proceeds will benefit the Masons charity and scholarship funds.
Lions serve breakfast
JOYCE — The Crescent Bay Lions will host a breakfast Sunday.
The breakfast will be from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Lions’ clubhouse, 118 Holly Hill Road.
It will cost $6 for adults and $3.50 for children.
The menu will include eggs made to order, hashbrown potatoes, sausage patties, ham, pancakes, french toast and biscuits and gravy.
Orange juice and coffee also will be served.
For more information, phone 360-928-2056.