Benefit concert seeks to connect Olympic Discovery Trail

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, October 5, 2016

ODT benefit concert

FreddyPink live, auction, BBQ, dancing

5-10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15

McCurdy Pavilion, Fort Worden, Port Townsend

All-ages; adult beverages available

$20 at brownpapertickets.com

Preview auction items at odtbenefit.com.

Volunteers with the Peninsula Trails Coalition look to turn up its annual benefit concert/silent auction fundraiser to 11 or maybe 20 this year.

Organizers partner with local band FreddyPink for a live show from 5-10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, at the McCurdy Pavilion at Fort Worden in Port Townsend to help with various projects along the Olympic Discovery Trail.

Brian Anderson, board member of the coalition, said organizers seek support for projects such as connecting the Larry Scott Memorial Trail portion of the Olympic Discovery Trail in Port Townsend with the ODT in Discovery Bay, also known as the Eaglemount section.

“The ODT then becomes a safe and seamless trail from Port Townsend, through Sequim and Port Angeles, on its way to the Pacific Coast at La Push,” Anderson said.

The event features music by the FreddyPink Band, plenty of dancing, a barbecue dinner and a silent auction. All items can be previewed online at www.odtbenefit.com such as airplane rides, bicycles and more.

Anderson said last year they raised $14,000 and this year aim for $20,000.

Gordon Yancey, lead singer of FreddyPink, said about 400 people attended and that the venue was so full of energy that people stood for the music the whole time.

Anderson said funds raised specifically go toward general funds or matching funds for grants to complete projects like connecting the Eaglemount section.

Yancey said the Olympic Discovery Trail is “a diamond in the crown of the peninsula” and that it’s important to make the trail safer with the connection.

“The Olympic Discovery Trail has become a major attraction for tourism on the peninsula, drawing bikers, hikers, walkers and equestrians to the Pacific Northwest and beyond, but it also has become a vital health link and a continued boon to commerce for the peninsula communities that it passes through along the way,” Anderson said.

He said the number of people visiting the peninsula for the trail has grown for various events such as Tour de Lavender, The Big Hurt and many more.

“We’re not just a local trail,” Anderson said. “Our goal is to be recognized as one of the best trails in the U.S. We need to finish this next critical section.”

For more, visit https://www.peninsulatrailscoalition.org.