Sequim experienced its share of milestones, tragedies and traditions in 2025 in a news-filled year.

Voters agreed in a February special election to pay for new Sequim School District buildings and improvements, and to continue levy funding for Clallam County Fire District 3 in August’s primary election. However, a majority of county residents voted down a levy lid lift for Clallam County this November.

Economic pressures proceed to put a crunch on residents with Sequim Food Bank’s staff reporting a rise in need following national and state program cuts, and continued increases in general costs for food and services.

Tensions rose over federal policy changes and cutbacks as thousands of residents took to Sequim’s streets at multiple protests.

Here’s a recap of some of Sequim’s top stories through the year, month by month:

January

• Sequim city councilor Kathy Downer resigned at the Jan. 13 council meeting of 2025 citing a desire to spend more time with family. Downer, a retired nurse, was elected in November 2021, and when up for reelection in 2024, switched from council seat No. 2 to No. 1 to run against then former Mayor William Armacost. Downer won with 72.6% of the vote. On Feb. 10 she was replaced by appointee Kelly Burger. He was elected to the position in November while running unopposed.

• In January, leaders with Clallam County Fire District 3 announced that they saw a record call load in 2024 responding to 9,189 calls with 157 of those common dispatching errors. This year, while not quite over yet, staff report they’ve surpassed 9,600 calls to break the record again despite continued efforts to reduce non-emergency calls.

• On Jan. 21, Julian Treat of Seattle was sentenced to two years in prison and 18 months community custody for his role in beating an AM//PM employee in Carlsborg and attempting to take his wallet on Oct. 25, 2024. Another suspect Joshua Pulliam, 28, of Lakewood was sentenced to 12-plus months in prison and 18 months community custody in December 2024.

• Michael McAleer, a community advocate and real estate agent, died on Jan. 29 at the age of 86. He spent 31 years in the US Army and moved to Sequim in 1991 and started the real estate group Team McAleer. McAleer served on various local boards and helped through multiple nonprofit groups.

• Discussions continued with the Washington State Parks system in January about the potential of turning 2,800 acres of Miller Peninsula into a park with more trails, a visitors center, a nature playground, RV camping, picnic shelters, and more. However, no action has been taken on any development, and conservation groups continue to advocate against construction.

February

• The City of Sequim was exploring an option to create a Tax Increment Area using Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to repurpose new property tax funds from new construction for sewer and water lift stations on West Sequim Bay Road for future developments. Clallam County Fire District 3 officials responded negatively to the possibility with concerns about those funds potentially being diverted from fire service projects, such as a new fire station, to serve the developments. In July city staff reported they were no longer exploring the financing option. City Manager Matt Huish wrote in an email to junior taxing districts that “after conducting thorough research, working with multiple consultants and the Office of the State Treasurer, we have decided, for a myriad of reasons, not to move forward with TIF as a potential funding mechanism for Sequim at this time.”

• Residents experienced Sequim’s first traceable snow of 2025 on Feb. 4 and again on Feb. 6 with accumulation between two and eight inches depending on elevation. Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9, saw sleet fall through the morning and early afternoon and graupel (a soft hail) on the morning of Feb. 10. Sequim School District had two-hour delays on Feb. 4 and 6 and no more the rest of the year.

• Sequim High School’s girls bowling team repeated as 2A state academic champions to finish its season. Varsity players included Kimberly Heintz, Cooper Hiatt, Keira Morey, Joanna Morales, Victoria Nava, and Skylar Krzyworz who earned a combined 3.967 grade point average.

• Scout Troop 90, formerly Troop 490 and 1490 celebrated 100 years on Feb.8 in the Sequim Masonic Lodge. According to scouting documents, it’s the oldest troop in Sequim, and as Troop 490, it was formed in 1925 by Rev. T.W. Bundy in a Sunday school class in the United Methodist Church with nine scouts. It switched to Troop 1490 in the 1980s and then Troop 90 in the mid-2000s. Angus Hay became the troop’s first Eagle Scout, scouting’s highest rank, in 1927 followed by his brother Gordon in 1930.

• Both of Sequim School District’s propositions passed in a Feb. 11 special election for a four-year Educational Programs & Operations (EP&O) levy renewal (Proposition 1) and a 20-year construction bond (Proposition 2).

This bond is the district’s first attempt since a string of four failed attempts and its first approved since Feb. 1996 that included $25 million to build Sequim Middle School (opened in 1998) and new classrooms (H-building) and Hendrickson Field at Sequim High School.

The $146 million construction bond includes plans to: Replace Helen Haller Elementary School; build new instructional wings at Sequim High School and connect them to remaining buildings; add a cafeteria at Greywolf Elementary School, update the bus loop and parking lot, and upgrade heating, ventilation and air condition (HVAC); upgrade athletic field and facilities at the stadium; improve or replace the Transportation Center; create a new bus loop through the district’s main campus; and improve safety and security at all schools

An approximate $5 million career and technical education (CTE) building (Ramponi Center for Technical Excellence) was funded through state grants and private donations, and will be built along with the high school project but using separate funds. The CTE building will tentatively be finished in early 2028, and the high school improvements in summer 2029. Tentative dates for other projects have not been released yet as more contractors/architects are chosen.

For the four-year, approximate $36.2 million EP&O levy renewal, district staff said it helps fund teacher and staffing levels, extracurricular activities and athletics, library, music, counseling, nursing, transportation and more. Sequim’s EP&O levies have passed in the last six attempts.

• Sequim’s renovated and expanded library, 630 N. Sequim Ave., was announced in February to be tracking to open in June, however, various shipment and fabrication delays have put the reopening into early 2026, according to North Olympic Library staff.

Much of the facility is now completed aside from an intricate window wall on the east side of the building, said Executive Director Noah Glaude.

In late December, NOLS announced that the $10.7 million project has come from timber revenue from State Forest trust lands managed by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), state grants, donations, and a low-interest state loan will help fund the facility. For the immediate future the temporary library remains open at 609 W.. Washington St., unit 21.

• Paradise Cafe, 703 N. Sequim Ave., opened under new ownership on Feb. 12 at the site of the former Paradise Restaurant which closed in November 2024 after the retirement of the previous owners. Jose Gallegos of The Big Elk Restaurant, and Reynaldo Garcia, former owner of the Fairmont Diner, have teamed up as co-owners, with Jenny Henke as the manager.

• On Feb. 22, Lily Tjemsland was crowned queen of the Sequim Irrigation Festival at the Royalty Ambassador Scholarship Pageant inside Sequim High School’s auditorium. Other royalty named were Malachi Byrne. Joanna Morales and Roxy Woods. They’ll serve through Feb. 21 when the next royalty candidates compete.

• The Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce named Ron Stecker, a volunteer photographer in the community, its 2024 Citizen of the Year on Feb. 25 at the Cedars at Dungeness golf course. Finalists for Citizen of the Year included Nicole Lepping, founder of Sequim Wheelers, a group of volunteer cyclists who give bicycle rides to the elderly and disabled, and Blaine Zechenelly, a longtime volunteer for Clallam County Fire District 3 and head of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). The chamber also awarded The Bill & Esther Littlejohn Humanitarian of the Year Award for the first time since 2017 to philanthropist George Brown, a strong supporter of the Boys & Girls Club and creator of a $500,000 scholarship fund for the OMC Foundation to create education opportunities in healthcare.

• Hoch Construction of Port Angeles won the approximate $619,000 contract in late February to level lots from 153-169 W. Spruce St. to create a gated parking lot with 40 spots north of the city hall for the City of Sequim. It includes four pay-to-use electric vehicle charging spots. Sequim bought the lots in June 2022 for $457,500 from the city’s Rainy Day funds with the intent to turn the sites into a parking lot. Law enforcement reported often to the properties years prior for an array of charges. A home at 153 W. Spruce St. burned down in June 2021, along with a dental lab, garage and a fifth wheel trailer.

• A handful of residents advocated to Sequim city councilors on Feb. 24 to stop fireworks shows and the Sunshine Festival drone show in Carrie Blake Community Park due to their alleged impacts to birds, including a nearby eagle’s nest. On April 28, city staff shared plans to move the fireworks show for the Fourth of July to the other side of Carrie Blake Community Park to accommodate the nest. The decision did not require a formal vote, and no proposals have come forward to the city council to prohibit other fireworks or drone shows.

March

• Sequim High School’s Interact Club’s Walk for Water raised $5,700 on March 1 to provide a well for a small community in Ghana. Forty students walked from Sequim Middle School to the Dungeness River, about four miles total, to fill and carry buckets to experience the daily journey many people must go for water.

• Veteran radio and TV journalist Dick Goodman brought his decades-long career behind the microphone to an end on March 3 with his final on-air shift at KSQM 91.5 FM. The 92-year-old Goodman is believed to be the oldest active on-air broadcaster in the country with his regularly scheduled Monday and Friday program on KSQM, according to the NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame. The voice of Dick Goodman has graced the airwaves at two of the North Olympic Peninsula’s radio stations for 20 years, first at KONP in Port Angeles and then at Sequim’s KSQM.

• On March 4, more than 150 protesters rallied during President Donald Trump’s congressional address in Washington, D.C. It was the first of a handful of protests held in the Sequim area through 2025 opposing cuts to federal programs and jobs, and many other policy decisions.

• Sequim High School’s boys basketball team advanced to the state tournament at the Yakima Valley SunDome for the first time since 2013. Unfortunately, the ninth-seeded Wolves lost to No. 8 Mark Morris 69-59 in a Class 2A boys basketball state tournament on March 5 in a loser-out contest. Sequim finished the season at 20-5, including a share of the Olympic League title.

• Sequim High School senior Skylar Krzyworz sold her 25,000th box of Girl Scout cookies on March 7 outside Walmart on her last night of sales. “Girl Scouts has been something that I never realized was going to have such a big impact on me,” she said. “And then after being in it for 13 years, I don’t know what I would do without it in my life.”

• Rain didn’t stop Sequim from enjoying the sixth-annual Sunshine Festival on March 7-8. Organizers said the Sun Fun Color Run on the morning of March 8 was the largest in the event’s history with 622 participants for the 1K/5K events. The illuminated drone show also remained a popular draw with thousands of people surrounding Carrie Blake Community Park to watch the Sequim-centric show.

• Clallam County Fire District 3 reported that a five-year-old child died in a trailer fire on March 9 on the 1300 block of Gasman Road off Old Olympic Highway in eastern Port Angeles. A 1-year-old child was rescued from the trailer and was deemed in stable condition two days later, according to the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office. Fire investigators ruled that a refrigerator near the trailer’s front door caused the fire.

• On March 10, Mamba the Sequim Police dog retired after being the department’s K-9 officer with handler/officer Paul Dailidenas for seven-plus years. Mamba now lives with Dailidenas and his family.

• A woman and her three dogs were rescued on March 14 by firefighters with Clallam County Fire District 3 early in the morning on March 14 on the 700 block of South Still Road after a Sequim School District bus driver reported the smoke to 911. She was transported to Olympic Medical Center for non-life threatening injuries.

• Sequim’s skate park was renamed on March 10 by Sequim city councilors after Mark Simpson, a longtime advocate for the local skate community who died in April 2024. Using a moniker given to Simpson from the skateboarding community with his family’s blessing, the skate park near the entrance of Carrie Blake Community Park is now known in city documents and maps as the “MarkeMark Simpson Skatepark.” Mayor Brandon Janisse proposed the name change to recognize Simpson.

• Sequim’s contracted hearing examiner Peregrin Sorter approved two developments totaling 128 residential lots in the southern part of city limits on March 13. The 104-lot Bell Creek Major Subdivision will add 104 lots on about 28.4 acres with detached single-family homes on both sides of Bell Creek. The property is bordered by South Third Avenue to the west, West Brownfield Road to the north, and South Sequim Avenue to the east.

Bella Vista Estates will add 24 lots for single-family homes east of South Sequim Avenue and south of Miller Road. City staff report Bell Creek developers have an approved site construction permit and Bella Vista’s developers have not submitted for site construction since preliminary approval.

• Sequim track and field athletes held their first track meet on March 20 after four years of away meets due to safety concerns of the track. In 2024, Beynon Sports of Oregon resurfaced the track and jumping areas, and relocated and resurfaced the pole vault runway for just over $400,000 from funds out of the voter-approved 2021 capital projects levy. The track was last resurfaced in 1996, and more work is being planned through the district’s voter-approved bond for the stadium, track and field in some capacity.

• Sequim grad Petra Bernsten finished her collegiate wrestling career at Washington State University last spring as a three-time National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA) All-American. The future pharmacist went 20-6 in the season and placed second in the 180 pound weight class at the NCWA National Championships.

• On March 31, 13-year-old Colton Dufour was struck in a hit-and-run while riding his skateboard behind Safeway. He was flown to Harborview Medical Center for serious injuries. Cole Douglas of Sequim was arrested nearly two months later on May 21 in Muskogee, Oklahoma for his alleged connection to the hit-and-run. He is tentatively set to be sentenced on Jan. 8 in Clallam County Superior Court for the incident.

April

• In April, the Peninsula Daily News reported that the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society released an open letter to the community, acknowledging past mistakes occurred during management of its Bark House, 1743 Old Olympic Highway in Port Angeles, and that its temporary closure in the summer of 2024 was due to housing an excessive number of dogs, at one point reaching 108 in a facility meant for only 40. The agency hired Spenser McGinty as its new executive director starting on July 7. For more information about the Bark House, contact it by phone (360)457-8206 or via email info@op-hs.org.

• A man wearing a medical mask and hoodie sprayed bear defense spray inside Kitsap Bank at 1320 W. Washington St. on April 9 as he robbed the bank for approximately $3,000-$4,000, according to the Sequim Police Department. Suspect Dale Jaff, 57, was arrested May 9 in Jefferson County and he faces charges of robbery in the first degree, assault in the second degree, and theft in the second degree with the maximum sentence up to life in prison. His eight-day trial is scheduled to begin on Jan. 26, with a status hearing on Jan. 6.

• Two of the four surviving graduates gathered for Sequim High School’s class of 1947’s reunion on April 16 inside the Mariner Cafe. Mabel (Heine) Sorensen had a two-for-one celebration with it being her 96th birthday and 78th high school reunion. She was joined by classmate Robert “Bob” Clark, who went on to turn 95 in November. “I just think it’s important historically,” Clark said of the reunion. “We really don’t see one another much otherwise, and it’s very nice to be able to get together socially,” Sorensen said. Clark said 51 students graduated from Sequim High School in 1947, and the luncheon was the first time the class of 1947 had met since 2022.

• In April, an after-hours weekend emergency pet clinic was announced to be opening in Sequim, starting June 6, thanks to efforts by the Pet Emergency Group. The clinic, Peninsula Pet Emergency, is located inside the Pacific Northwest Veterinary Hospital at 289 W. Bell St. to provide emergency services, not routine care, for cats and dogs. The clinic is run by Amanda Mason, DVM, and open 6pm-8am Fridays-Sundays. For more information on Peninsula Pet Emergency, call (360) 207-4773 or email info@peninsulapetemergency.com.

• Nearly three years after shooting at and attacking his neighbor, Sequim man James Luoma, 69, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on April 22 in Clallam County Superior Court. He was arrested by Sequim Police officers on April 27, 2022 on the 700 block of West Heritage Loop in the Hendrickson Estates manufactured home park after shooting at and attacking his then- 49-year-old neighbor. According to court documents, the neighbor sought a protection order but was unable to obtain one just prior to Luoma coming to her home, and firing a gun multiple times at her. After running into a neighbor’s garage, Luoma and the victim fought with her, taking his gun during the struggle and shooting Luoma’s thumb off before he was arrested by Sequim Police officers.

May

• Following the end of the 2025 legislative session in late April, City of Sequim staff revealed that the $31 million U.S. 101 East Sequim Road Project has been pushed down the road at least six years due to the state’s budget shortfall. The corridor project would finish the Simdars Road interchange and create frontage roads from Palo Alto Road and Happy Valley Roads off the highway. Two years ago, the Sequim area project had moved up on the state’s project list from the 2031-33 biennium but Sen. Mike Chapman, D-Port Angeles, told the Peninsula Daily News that the project is “not a high-priority project for the overall state transportation system.” The full Simdars Road interchange was included in the 4.6-mile U.S. Highway 101 bypass project in 1999 but was built with only an eastbound on-ramp and westbound off-ramp in East Sequim due to a budget shortfall.

• Aaron C. Fisher, 37, of Jefferson County will tentatively go to trial on Jan. 26 for the second-degree murder of Richard G. Madeo, 70, of Sequim. Fisher allegedly punched Madeo in the face on May 6 by the Sequim Safeway fuel station and knocked him unconscious. Madeo died two days later at Harborview Medical Center, according to law enforcement. Fisher was originally charged with second-degree assault, and released from jail on May 9 as the investigation into Madeo’s death was completed. Fisher was arrested in SeaTac on July 23, and charged in Clallam County Superior Court and pleaded not guilty. He was also charged in September with one count each of possessing depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct in the first and second degree. Fisher has a status hearing on Jan. 9.

• On May 17, family and friends hosted a benefit for Dungeness farmer Nash Huber, 84, at the Sequim Prairie Grange to help defray his medical expenses and legal fees as he faced eviction from Delta Farm, 1888 Towne Road, that he helped preserve. He had a 30-year lease set to expire Dec. 31, 2032, but Huber had made repeated violations of his lease agreement with Washington Farmland Trust, formerly PCC Farmland Trust, its staff report. Huber’s eviction went to Clallam County Civil Court on March 14 but was dismissed without prejudice because the Farmland Trust wanted more time to clarify Huber’s attorney’s request to cure the lease violation. On April 24, Huber was re-issued a Notice to Cure, and he had 10 days to remedy the alleged violations.

Melissa Campbell, executive director of the Washington Farmland Trust, wrote in an email that through an agreement, Huber will vacate Delta Farm in early 2026 and have through mid-year to remove their farming equipment and supplies.”

Campbell said “(the agency) will begin the process of restoring and remediating the property to address the outstanding violations” and seek a new farmer for the property.

• Sequim Middle School’s track and field season finished with two team championships, plenty of first place finishes, and a school record at the Olympic League Championship on May 20. According to coach Caleb Gentry, Eleanor Jones broke the school record for the 800-meter run in 2:31.15, and the 1600-meter in 5:15.22. In total, Sequim took first in 15 boys and girls events.

• Sophomore Clare Turella repeated as the 2A state high jump champion by leaping to 5-4 on May 30 at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma, two inches more than second place. Turella jumped 5-3 a week prior at the West Central District 3 meet in Bremerton, and improved on her 2A winning state jump (5-2) in 2024.

June

• On June 1, 45 students participated in some capacity in a senior prank at Sequim High School’s H-building the week of graduation. Eggs were smashed both inside and outside the building. Clallam County Prosecutor Mark Nichols filed non-felony charges for the graduated seniors, then 17 and 18 years old, and his staff recommended various hours of community service and that they write apology letters to school officials and the community. Five students were also recommended to pay restitution for damages to the school district for throwing eggs.

Nichols said he recommended that eight students who returned to help staff and fellow students clean up the mess not be required to do community service. No seniors were denied the ability to participate in graduation. In late December, Nichols wrote via email that the students’ referral to diversion has been completed and diversion processes are underway, and of the five students who were charged, three have entered deferred dispositions, which remain pending, and the other two still have active cases and are awaiting resolution in the courts, he said.

• The Dungeness River Nature Center’s board of directors announced on June 2 that the center’s executive director, Frank Lowenstein, was no longer with the Sequim facility. Lowenstein, nor Board President Annette Hanson, disclosed why he was dismissed. He was hired in September 2024 to replace long-time director Powell Jones. On Oct. 20, Michael Glore, who has more than 20 years of experience leading interpretation, education, volunteer, and visitor programs for public lands, started as the facility’s new executive director.

• On June 6, Sequim High School’s senior class graduated 175 students including six valedictorians: Jack Crecelius, Skylar Krzyworz, Keira Morey, Melia Nelson, Libby Turella, and Jovi Weller.

• Described as a light to all by family and friends, Ty Coone, 21, of Sequim went missing on May 13 while fishing in a kayak north of Cline Spit in Dungeness. Coone, a 2022 Sequim High School graduate and avid fisherman, made a 911 distress call fearing he’d drown during high winds and waves. Clallam County Sheriff’s Office reports that his body was found in Dungeness on June 1. Multiple services were held in his honor.

• Habitat for Humanity of Clallam County’s “Sequim Avenue Development” townhome project was approved by the City of Sequim’s hearing examiner Peregrin Sorter on June 6. Habitat’s development includes 45 units including a combination of fourplex, triplex and duplex townhomes at the south intersection of South Sequim Avenue and East Brownfield Road. The project is approved for 48 homes, but due to an approximate one-acre wetland on the site, Habitat officials will build 45 homes to avoid building in its area. Due to Habitat’s project and neighboring Bell Creek Estates Subdivision’s entrances being less than 125 feet apart on South Sequim Avenue, city staff require Habitat officials to either redesign their entrance or work with an engineer to write a request to the city on why the deviation is needed.

• Sequim city councilors agreed on June 9 to cap the city’s municipal funding contracts in 2026 at 1.5% of the city’s General Fund. For 2025, Sequim councilors had agreed to award about 2% of the General Fund to municipal funding contracts whereas comparable cities contract out to 1 to 1.5%. Requests from eight agencies came in about $200,000 more than the $207,700 in funds available.

Councilors agreed to contract with six agencies, and later amended the agreement on Nov. 24 to fully fund contracts with Shipley Center and YMCA of the Olympic Peninsula who were under two-year contracts but set to receive less under the new policy in 2026. Councilors voted to honor the 2026 contracts and pay $18,750 more from the city’s Rainy Day Funds.

• A complaint lodged June 10 by the hedge fund 352 Capital GP alleges First Fed conspired with WaterStation Management owner Ryan Wear and a network of affiliated businesses he controlled to defraud its investors of more than $100 million. First Fed is accused of conspiracy to commit fraud, aiding and abetting fraud and unjust enrichment. 352 Capital is seeking $106.925 million in damages, attorneys’ fees and court costs.

In a June 13 U.S. Securities and Exchange Corporation filing, First Fed strongly disputed the accusations and said it would “vigorously defend against the claims.”

Curt Queyrouze was appointed by the First Fed Board of Directors on Sept. 11 the new president and chief executive officer of First Fed. He replaces interim CEO Geri Bullard, who will continue to serve as executive vice president and CEO of First Fed and its holding company, First Northwest Bancorp. Bullard was appointed to the interim position on July 13 to replace Matt Deines, who resigned as president and CEO on July 5.

• At least 2,600 people lined both sides of West Washington Street on June 14 as part of the “No Kings Day Nationwide Day of Defiance” demonstrations to protest the Trump administration’s ICE raids and the military parade in Washington, D.C., which coincided with President Donald Trump’s 79th birthday.

• Justin Cox, 37, of Sequim allegedly barricaded himself into a Carlsborg residence and fired at law enforcement in a standoff on June 17. Cox, who referred to himself as “The Messiah,” faced six counts of first-degree assault and one count of second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, obstructing law enforcement, felony malicious mischief and felony harassment.

He received two 90-day restoration orders to restore his competency at Western State Hospital to determine if he is fit to stand trial. However, an evaluation on Dec. 17 determined that there “does not appear to be a substantial likelihood restoring him to competency with additional time in hospital.”

At his competency review on Dec. 22, his charges were dismissed without prejudice, and he’ll remain in the hospital receiving care.

• Rite Aid in Sequim permanently closed June 26 at 530 W. Washington St. as part of a bankruptcy for its parent company in early May. Prescriptions were transferred to QFC in Sequim, and as of Dec. 26, the space remains vacant.

July

• Emily Westcott, a volunteer for many nonprofit ventures in Sequim, announced she had stepped down in her role seeking sponsorships for Sequim’s flower basket program. She and retired Sequim High School agriculture teacher Derrell Sharp started the program in 1996 to support the Sequim FFA with about 50 baskets and sponsorships for each basket. Now city staff, who already distribute, water and fertilize the baskets, are directly contracting with the high school to make the baskets.

Westcott was honored in November with a proclamation from the City of Sequim. She used half of the flower basket sponsorships to support the downtown Christmas lights program, which she continues to co-coordinate. To make a tax-deductible donation through the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce, contact Westcott at 360-670-6294.

• Lawrence “Larry” Jeffryes officially resigned on July 14 from his District 1 Sequim School District seat to “focus on new priorities, and the board is in capable hands moving forward.” He was appointed in September 2019 to replace Robin Henrikson, who had resigned from the position, and he ran unopposed two months later, and then won again in 2023 in a contested race. Nicholas Bell, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and school district parent, was chosen to replace Jeffryes on Sept. 15. He’ll serve through November 2027.

• Sequim City Councilors agreed in a 6-1 vote on July 14 to a staff proposal to increase utility rates and general facility charges (GFCs) starting in 2026 each year through 2030. Under the resolution, water rates will increase 5.5%, sewer rates 4.5%, and General Facility Charges (GFCs), a one-time charge for new developments to connect to city utilities, by 3%. City staffers estimate most households using up to 500 cubic feet of water and sewer services will see about a $5 increase per month in 2026. To connect a new single-family development to water and sewer in 2026, a GFC would cost about $473 more, according to the city’s “2025 Rates & Fees” sheet.

• The Gazette reported in July that Trinity United Methodist Church, with help from local organizations, would kick off its Safe Parking Program, an initiative to provide those living in their vehicles a secure place to sleep at night, in August. Three parking spaces will be available for use by clients referred by Peninsula Behavioral Health, Serenity House, REdisCOVERY/Olympic Peninsula Community Clinic and Olympic Community Programs (OlyCAP). Good Man Sanitation will provide a Sanican and a portable washing station. Although no showers will be available, guests will be able to wash their face and hands.

• Considered an institution for the church and a contributor to a number of community musical groups and activities, Pat Marcy, Faith Lutheran Church in Sequim’s music director for 50 years, played her last full service on July 27. Concordia University, Nebraska graduate Ryan Edinger was called to serve as director of parish music and began on Sunday, Aug. 3. In the church, Marcy has led the Bell Choir and Voice Choir, worked with countless singers and musicians, and played the piano and organ at church services, weddings, memorials, preschool programs, and much more. For the community at large, she has a long list of accomplishments and contributions, including teaching Sequim High School’s and Sequim Middle School’s choir classes for eight years, and hosting private piano lessons for 20 years.

• Following the Seabrook Holding Company filing its proposed Westbay development in June to build 600 lots with up to 650 residential units built over a number of years, City of Sequim planners determined the application was “technically incomplete” on July 21. Staff wrote that their comments are not a full review, but identify the minimum necessary for the city to determine the application technically complete so a full technical review can continue. From the Department of Community and Economic Development’s review, staff reported multiple deficiencies in and missing documents and studies for the master plan.

On July 28, Sequim city councilors voted in favor of a six-month emergency moratorium on master-planned overlay applications with City Attorney Kristina Nelson-Gross later saying in September that the moratorium was not specifically about Westbay or its approval or disapproval, but was put in place so the city could “ensure that the city regulations, comprehensive plans, and other guiding regulatory documents have reached a level of consistency that will allow the staff, members of the public, and the applicant to have a clear, well defined process.”

The moratorium angered stakeholders of the project with threats of legal action and/or pulling out if the moratorium wasn’t lifted before 2026.

Seabrook Holding Company staff reported in late December that they’ve signed an extension with Wayne Enterprises, owners of the potential Westbay property, through the city’s moratorium, and they’ve re-engaged city staff about their application.

City staff reported that they’ll ask the city council to extend the moratorium another six months before it expires Jan. 28 in order to continue work on Sequim’s Comprehensive Plan and development regulations update with a draft of those documents made public on April 1, 2026.

• Sequim School District’s administrators proposed new usage fees for facilities and fields in late July that irked many organizations due to increased costs and being implemented too quickly. Due to community concerns, the rates were paused for 60 days so staff could receive more input. After school district staffers met with various groups about their concerns, the district’s board of directors unanimously approved rate changes on Oct. 6 that follow a general rule to add 5% to 2019 rates depending on one of four tier rates a renter falls under, i.e. a for-profit business.

August

• Clallam County Fire District 3’s levy lid lift passed in the primary election on Aug. 8 and district leaders said they won’t need to dip into reserves in 2026 as a result. The increase in levy rate from $1.11 per $1,000 of assessed valuation of a home to $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value. Fire district staff report the levy restoration would cost a homeowner with a home assessed at $470,000, about $15.28 more than what they pay now per month, or $183.36 more than now each year.

Collection will begin in 2026, and Fire Chief Justin Grider said restored funds would help support personnel, supplies, equipment, training, facilities, and vehicles as the general levy makes up about 71% of the fire district’s annual funds.

• Bret Wirta, CEO of Wirta Hospitality Worldwide and owner of Holiday Inn Express and Suites in Sequim at 1441 E. Washington St., finished a remodel of the hotel in August. The six-month project cost nearly $4 million to refresh the hotel’s 77 rooms with light blue and gray tones reminiscent of water throughout. “We wanted to show Sequim what we could offer,” Wirta said. The Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce offered a ribbon-cutting on Nov. 6 to mark the 15-year-old hotel’s grand re-opening.

• Work to prohibit camping and loitering in Seal Street Park in downtown Sequim remains on hold as City of Sequim staff say they continue to look for legal options. A few unhoused individuals had taken up residence in or near the park and have allegedly committed various crimes.

Sequim Public Works Director Paul Bucich said Seal Street was given to the city more than 100 years ago and later closed off to through traffic on Washington Street for safety concerns. While it’s labeled a park, he said it isn’t technically one as it falls in the realm of right-of-way, and they have limitations to what they can do with it. Bucich said they’ll explore turning it from being designated a right-of-way to a parcel. Once it goes through the legal process in Clallam County, it can then be managed by the parks department, Bucich said.

• In late August, Michael Smith, executive director of Shipley Center, Sequim’s senior center, provided a tour of the facility at 651 W. Washington St. He said they hope to be moved into the renovated space by the end of 2026. In June 2024 the senior center purchased the former JCPenney building for $2.775 million in cash. It will triple the space of its current 11,000 square feet center at 921 E. Hammond St. to 29,000 square feet.

Smith wrote in an email that Shipley Center received its building permit on Nov. 4, and they’ve been prepping the concrete floors with a local concrete polishing firm, and doing some exterior painting as weather permits. They’ll begin framing and plumbing work in January, he said.

September

• Olympic Medical Center and UW Medicine signed a non-binding letter of intent to explore a possible affiliation between the public hospital and the Seattle-based health system on Sept. 3. The letter outlines a three-month timeline for a process requiring OMC to undergo an operational and financial assessment that will make recommendations for how it can become financially sustainable, including regaining its 340B federal drug pricing eligibility, and the identification and design of an affiliation model that might “include a management services agreement and could involve corporate restructuring with a capital partner.”

On Dec. 17, Interim Chief Executive Officer Mark Gregson said discussions with UW Medicine are continuing and an assessment of OMC, that is part of the letter of intent, likely will occur in January.

UW Medicine already started supporting OMC through physician education programs, virtual specialty services and recruitment assistance, he said.

“The bottom line is that we’re still moving forward,” Gregson said, adding that a decision on any alliance is expected by late spring.

• A Sequim student was arrested early on Sept. 4 after allegedly posting a threat of violence on social media. The FBI, according to Undersheriff Lorraine Shore in a press release, was contacted by TikTok after reporting a post with a student stating, “I am going to shoot up Sequim High School tomorrow.” The 16-year-old was arrested without incident at their residence around 4 a.m., Shore reported.

In an unrelated incident, a second Sequim High School student was arrested on Sunday, Oct. 19 after allegedly threatening violence through TikTok messages towards multiple students.

The 15-year-old was arrested and made their first appearance in Clallam County Juvenile Court on Oct. 20 and pleaded not guilty on Oct. 23 to charges of three counts of threats to bomb or injure property, three counts of harassment – threats to kill, and three counts of cyber harassment.

Superintendent Regan Nickels said in an interview that part of the process includes administrators evaluating if the alleged suspect’s behavior would allow them to return to school or not.

She said for the 16-year-old student in September’s incident, the assessment was completed and appropriate discipline was applied. She did not comment on what that was due to student privacy rights.

• Christian J. Whitaker, 28, was booked and released on Sept. 5 from Clallam County jail with no bond set for felony charges of rape and voyeurism incidents that allegedly occurred in July 2024 in Jefferson County at the time he was working for the Sequim Police Department but not while on duty.

He tentatively faces charges for rape in the second degree; voyeurism in the first degree; and disclosing intimate images. Sequim Police Deportment reported in a November press release that upon receiving information about Whitaker’s alleged misconduct, he was placed immediately on administrative leave and his police power revoked, and his badge, police identification, duty weapon, and assigned vehicle and equipment were secured. A four-day trial was tentatively set to begin on Jan. 12, 2026 in Clallam County Superior Court, but its been paused with a reset dates hearing scheduled for Jan. 9.

• Sequim Food Bank leaders reported in September that the previous month, 150 new families or households accessed at least one of the food bank’s programs. Executive Director Andra Smith said the facility also saw a 34% increase through August in usage from 2024, and an estimated 30 percent of residents in Sequim School District boundaries use services at least once a year. Smith said the food bank previously averaged about 140 families served on its distribution days — 1-4 p.m. Mondays and 9 a.m.-noon Fridays and Saturdays.

The food bank saw more high usage days and stretches, including a record 200 families on Monday, Oct. 27, prior to the Nov. 1 stoppage date for funding of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that affected thousands of Clallam County residents as part of the then-federal government shutdown. To match needs, food bank leaders said they’ve made operational adjustments and used some operational reserves.

• A Port Angeles man could face up to life in prison for the alleged rape and assault of two Sequim teens in June 2024 near the Dungeness River Railroad Bridge Park. Daniel L. Sigmon. 25, made his first appearance in Clallam County Superior Court on Sept. 10 and faces four counts of rape of a child in the second degree, a count of child molestation in the second degree, and a count of assault in the second degree. His five-day trial tentatively begins Feb. 23, 2026 with a status hearing at 1 p.m. Jan. 16.

• The Sequim Athletic Educational Foundation held an auction dinner on Sept. 13 honoring The Sequim Hall of Fame’s second set of honorees inside the Guy Cole Event Center. The 2025 inductees include: the 1963 Sequim High School Boys Basketball Team; the 1988 Sequim High School Boys Basketball Team; Dick Ballard (SHS Class of 1955); Len Beil (Class of 1963); Derrin Doty (Class of 1989); Todd Franklin (Class of 1985); Lisa (Fryer) Tuiasosopo (Class of 1997); Kris Kruse (Class of 1980); Bill Schade (SHS coach); Branette (Smith) Richards (Class of 1979); and Mark Verstegen (Class of 1987). They each received a plaque, and their names will be listed on a large plaque in the Sequim High gymnasium.

Funds raised help support high school scholarships and athletic endeavors in the Sequim School District. Last year’s inaugural event raised about $28,000 that helped purchase new wrestling mats, a sound system for the stadium, and high jump and pole vault mats.

• Two fire engines – 2025 Spartan Gladiators – arrived separately on Sept. 27 and Oct. 4 to the Maintenance and Training facility in Carlsborg for Clallam County Fire District 3. A third engine of the same model will be delivered in early 2026. Fire commissioners voted in September 2023 to order three fire trucks from True North Emergency Equipment in Hillsboro, Oregon. Fire District 3 split the payment with an approximate $1.64 million down payment in 2023, and the commissioners agreed at a Sept. 29 special meeting to pay the remaining $1.28 million. They’ll replace engines at stations 33 in Carlsborg, 34 in Sequim, and 37 in Blyn.

October

• The Peninsula Trails Coalition (PTC) hired its first executive director, Ann Livingston, 51, who began working for the agency in October. The PTC announced in July that it would be hiring an executive director through a search conducted by KC Upshaw of Kinship HR based in Port Townsend in an effort to bring new leadership and energy to its work, according to PTC President Rich James.

• Sequim High School seniors Finn Braaten and Ashton Reichner were crowned Homecoming king and queen at halftime of the Sequim vs. Bremerton football game on Oct. 3. Senior royalty also included Joey Kang and Jessie Bainbridge as prince and princess; and Grillien Morrill and Laila Sundin as duke and duchess.

For the junior class royalty, Brycen Gorr and Mason Rapelje were selected by the school, along with Reid Spaulding and Marelys Gonzalez for the sophomore class, and Silas Hagar and Kendall Adolphe for the freshmen class.

• Olympic Medical Center officials announced in October that the Port Angeles hospital came back into compliance with The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that requires facilities comply with its health, safety, billing and other requirements before being eligible for reimbursement. In February, the Department of Health conducted a survey of the hospital and inspectors found significant violations that required OMC to submit a plan of correction. However, upon reinspection in April, inspectors determined many deficiencies weren’t corrected, which led OMC to hiring health care consulting firm Chartis for $248,000 to help it meet CMS compliance standards. “We can’t say enough how grateful we are and how proud we are of all the people who worked so hard on this,” OMC board President Ann Henninger said.

• A second ‘No Kings’ demonstration saw about 3,000 people along West Washington Street on Oct. 18 protest President Donald Trump’s policies with the theme that America has no kings and the power belongs to the people. The event was one of more than 2,700 similar demonstrations across the nation.

Organizers with Sequim Indivisible said it was the largest local turnout for protests against the Trump administration’s policies.

• After a six year-hiatus, delegates from Shiso City, Japan returned to Sequim from Oct. 13-17 to its sister city Sequim to hold conversations about restarting the student exchange program that began 30-plus years ago. It was halted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors. In an Oct. 15 meeting, members of the Sequim-Shiso Sister City Association agreed to delegates’ proposal to start a three-year exchange cycle: the first year being an online exchange tentatively slated for Jan. 24-25, 2026, while the second year five Sequim students in high school and three chaperones would visit Shiso City in 2027, and in the third year Shiso City students and representatives would visit late summer 2028. Organizers said the visits used to be about 10 days to Japan, and the new proposal is now for about a week.

• Melvin Swagerty, a DoorDash driver from Port Angeles, was flown to Harborview Medical Center on Oct. 19 after he was stabbed in an apparent carjacking, and his vehicle was stolen with seven children onboard in Carlsborg, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office reported.

Swagerty picked up the children and their parents, ranging in age from 6 months old to 9 years old, as a good Samaritan near Deer Park.

On Carlsborg Road, Swagerty was stabbed and thrown from the vehicle, according to court documents.

Nicolas Well, 30, and Rosario Lopez-Castro, 27, the children’s parents, were arrested in Kitsap County on the morning of Oct. 20, and later charged in Clallam County Superior Court with with attempted murder in the second degree, robbery in the first degree, and theft of a motor vehicle. A six-day trial was set to begin on Jan. 12, but attorneys on Dec. 12 asked to continue the trials. A status hearing is set for Jan. 16. Well is being held on $850,000 bond, and Lopez at $750,000, and they pleaded not guilty to the charges on Nov. 20 in Clallam County Superior Court.

A GoFundMe for Swagerty has raised more than $100,000 at https://www.gofundme.com/f/aid-for-christinas-dad-stabbed-while-helping.

• Fishing guide Christian Parker Akers, 35, and his six-year-old son Wyatt, both of Sequim, perished on Oct. 30 when their drift boat overturned in turbulent water southwest of Forks on the Bogachiel River.

A 33-year-old unidentified Port Orchard man survived the ordeal and was able to call 911 while clinging to a tree, but another man, 39-year-old Alfonso Graham, also of Port Orchard, went missing for weeks and his body was recovered Dec. 7.

Five days after the tragedy, the Akers’ family dog, Turbo, a silver Labrador, was recovered and driven home to Sequim — to widow Daylee Joers Akers and her surviving son, Aiden — by Shyliah Gorbett, president of Friends of Forks Animals.

A GoFundMe account remains active to help the Akers family at https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-akers-family-after-the-bogachiel-river-tragedy.

• Numerous swastikas and a misspelled Nazi slogan were spray-painted in three locations in Carrie Blake Community Park sometime between the evening of Thursday, Oct. 30 and the morning of Halloween, Oct. 31. Vandalized spots included Sequim Skate Park, one pickleball court, and a nearby sidewalk.

Tim Williams, Sequim Picklers’ president, said it was the first time the courts have seen graffiti on them since opening in the summer of 2018. Sequim Police reported that at least one child may have been involved in the incident.

• City of Sequim staff paused a planned second-floor remodel of the Sequim Civic Center in October to focus on bringing improvements to the city’s shop at 169 W. Hemlock St. that were adjusted during the COVID-19 pandemic to accommodate social distancing, but don’t have current/needed amenities across the shop buildings. In recent years, staff sought upwards of $35 million through the state to improve and expand the shop facilities and nearby undeveloped property but city administrators said the cost was too high.

Sequim did receive $500,000 for a fuel station from the state, with a request for qualifications to design the project tentatively going out in 2026. City leaders said they’ll continue to form a better shop plan concept in 2026 and use some designated funds for the shop to build a covered area for road and sewer materials.

November

• W. Ron Allen, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe chairman and CEO, was named to the National Native American Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City on Nov. 1. Since assuming his titles in 1977, Allen has led the tribe to a current annual budget of more than $100 million with more than 1,800 acres. He also helped the tribe establish business enterprises, such as 7 Cedars Casino & Resort, The Cedars at Dungeness Golf Course, and many more.

• Sequim High School officially added girls flag football to its sports offerings on Nov. 3 following approval by the Sequim School District’s board of directors. Practices began Nov. 17 and the varsity team is 5-1 through winter break and No. 1 in the Olympic League, and resumes games on Jan. 8. Girls flag football is Sequim’s first sanctioned sport since girls bowling in the 2001-2002 school year.

• The Nov. 4 General Election was certified on Nov. 25 with 59.4% of voters choosing not to support Proposition No. 1, a levy lid lift for Clallam County essential public services that would have brought the county’s levy rate for 2026 from 76 cents to 95 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. According to county staff, funds would help support county services, such as criminal justice, public safety, public health, land use and park as the county faces a budget shortfall in 2026.

Charter Amendment No. 1 passed with 82.3% in favor to remove coroner duties from the prosecuting attorney and have the Board of County Commissioners hire for the position.

For the Hospital District 2 race, challenger Gerald B. Stephanz Jr. for Position no. 1 defeated incumbent Ann Marie Henninger, while Carleen Bensen (Position No. 4), and incumbent Penney Sanders (Position No. 7) won their contested races.

Port of Port Angeles incumbents Colleen McAleer, district No. 1 (88.3%), and Steve Burke, district No. 2 (85.4%) both retained their seats, as did incumbent Bill Miano for Clallam County Fire District 3 fire commissioner Position No. 3 (52%). Five City of Sequim council positions and two Sequim School Board director seats went unopposed.

• The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula raised a record-breaking $781,500 at its annual auction held Nov. 8, in Sequim, to support programs in the Port Angeles and Sequim communities allowing the clubs to keep membership fees at $30 per year. More than 400 community members gathered for the event at the Sequim Boys and Girls Club for the event that featured the “We Grow Our Own” theme.

• On Nov. 18, John Barcellos, 61, was sentenced on Nov. 18 in Clallam County Superior Court to 55 months in prison with time served for threatening to kill four children and eluding law enforcement in a Sequim church parking lot. On Sept. 16, 2023, Clallam County Sheriff’s Office reported that Barcellos made threats and attempted with his car to hit the children in the Sequim Seventh-day Adventist Church parking lot. Barcellos later drove off, hit a deputy’s vehicle, hit the Woodcock Road roundabout and crashed, deputies report. Barcellos’ trial lasted five days in September and the jury found Barcellos guilty of four counts of harassment – threats to kill, and one count of attempting to elude law enforcement. In total, he received 55 months for the harassment charges and 22 months for eluding law enforcement, but the charges are concurrent and including time served, so Barcellos will now serve less than two-and-a-half more years in prison.

• Sequim’s annual Cranksgiving on Nov. 22 drew a record 84 cyclists that helped bring in $6,400 and more than 2,000 pounds of food for the Sequim Food Bank. In its history, the event has brought in more than 10 tons of food and more than $27,000 for the food bank.

December

• Sequim Food Bank’s Executive Director Andra Smith announced in early December her plan to leave the organization in late February to take a job as executive director of the Washington Food Coalition to advocate statewide for Washington’s hunger-relief network. Smith started at the food bank in January 2016 and her last day will be Feb. 24, 2026. According to the food bank’s board of directors, she helped the facility expand services to help more than one-third of the Sequim School District’s population, and launch programs, such as the Mobile Food Pantry, co-found and co-lead the Sequim Health and Housing Collaborative.

• Sequim School District’s board of directors agreed on Dec. 3 in a special meeting to an approximate $5.2 million contract with Mahlum, an architecture firm from Seattle, for design services for the to-be renovated Sequim High School and new Career Technical Education (CTE) building. A board decision on a general contractor/contract manager on those projects is anticipated sometime in February, district staff report.

Facilities Director Mike Santos for the school district said a different architectural and design team could be chosen for different projects related to the bond because they will be completed separately.

• Sequim Valley Lions Club gathered at 7 Cedars on Dec. 5 to celebrate the club’s 70th birthday and decades of supporting youth programs, providing health screenings, building wheelchair ramps, and continuing to serve the community as volunteers. The club was sponsored by the Lions Club in Port Angeles and the charter for the Sequim Valley Lions Club was adopted on Dec. 5, 1955. To join the Sequim Valley Lions Club, contact membership chair Steve Sahnow at 360-808-0718 — or just come to a meeting held every second and fourth Thursday at Paradise Cafe, 703 N. Sequim Ave.

• Both Sequim and Port Angeles city councils approved six-month extensions for Clallam County Criminal Justice contracts in December prior to a 10-year-old agreement expiring on Dec. 31. The new six-month agreement follows county officials’ findings that both cities have allegedly been underpaying for district court, jail, prosecution, and public defender services.

Sequim was told it was underpaying for services by approximately $230,000 annually based on 2024 services, while Port Angeles is underpaying by approximately $2.5 million a year.

At Sequim’s Dec. 8 city council meeting, city councilors agreed to pay $9,700 more per month (about $48,000 in total each month) adjusted by a consumer price index (CPI) increase of 2.7% through June 30, 2026 as they verify the county’s numbers with a consultant.

At Port Angeles’ Dec. 16 council meeting, councilors approved a six month extension that brings monthly payments from $94,000 a month to just under $150,600 for a total of about $900,000 through the end of June.

Sequim Gazette photo by Emily Matthiessen/ Competitive dance champion and ballroom dance instructor Werner Figar leads student Debra Van Dusen in a waltz, while other students circle the room at Old Dungeness Schoolhouse in January 2025.

Sequim Gazette photo by Emily Matthiessen Sequim’s Jericho Julmist, right, and Solomon Sheppard celebrate the Wolves’ come-from-behind victory over rival Port Angeles on Jan. 31. Sequim overcame Port Angeles’ game-long tenacity with a fourth quarter flurry of pressure defense, jump shots and a sweet drive to the rim to earn a come-from-behind 58-49 win and sweep the Rainshadow Rumble boys basketball rivalry.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash Superintendent Regan Nickels for Sequim School District speaks to a crowd on Feb. 21 after the special election was certified showing the district’s construction bond and levy renewal propositions passed. Nickels said the votes show residents “trust us to move forward and do what is right by students.”

Sequim Gazette photo by Emily Matthiessen Outgoing Irrigation Festival queen Ariya Goettling crowns incoming Queen Lily Tjemsland at the Royalty Ambassador Scholarship Pageant on Feb. 22 in Sequim High School’s auditorium. Along with Tjemsland, Malachi Byrne. Joanna Morales and Roxy Woods were chosen for the 2025 royalty.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash Organizers of the Sun Fun Color Run on March 8 said there were a record number of participants with 622 signed up for the event during the Sequim Sunshine Festival.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash Mamba the dog sits at the Sequim Civic Center with her family – Sequim Police Officer Paul Dailidenas, his wife Linda, left, and their daughter Alyssa on March 10 after Dailidenas and Mamba received a Distinguished Medal. Mamba retired from service after nearly eight years, and Sequim is training another officer and dog to take over the K-9 Officer Program with Dailidenas’ blessing.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Skylar Krzyworz stands outside Walmart on March 7th when she hit the milestone of selling her 25,000th box of Girl Scout cookies. “Girl Scouts has been something that I never realized was going to have such a big impact on me,” she said. “And then after being in it for 13 years, I don’t know what I would do without it in my life.”

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash Shalom Eaton hands off to Maia Brewer in the 4X200 meters on March 20. They participated in the first race on Sequim’s track since 2021 due to safety concerns with the track’s condition. It was resurfaced in July 2024.

Photo by Emily Matthiessen/ At Sequim’s Olympic Theatre Arts Center, performers rehearse their roles as nuns dancing in a variety show in “Nunsense,” a musical comedy directed by Morgan Bartholick that ran from May 22-June 15. From left, Joodie Klinke as Sister Mary Hubert, Sunshine Peterson as Sister Mary Amnesia, Nicole Mischke as Sister Mary Lee, Cathy Dodd as Sister Mary Regina and Natalie Wilson as Sister Robert Anne light up the stage with humorous choreography by Jennifer Saul.

Photo by Emily Matthiessen/ At Sequim’s Olympic Theatre Arts Center, performers rehearse their roles as nuns dancing in a variety show in “Nunsense,” a musical comedy directed by Morgan Bartholick that ran from May 22-June 15. From left, Joodie Klinke as Sister Mary Hubert, Sunshine Peterson as Sister Mary Amnesia, Nicole Mischke as Sister Mary Lee, Cathy Dodd as Sister Mary Regina and Natalie Wilson as Sister Robert Anne light up the stage with humorous choreography by Jennifer Saul.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash Pictured at the Scholarship and Honor Awards Night on May 28, are seniors, from left, Jack Crecelius (Central Washington University), Skylar Krzyworz (Pacific Lutheran University), Keira Morey (University of Idaho), Libby Turella (University of Oregon), Melia Nelson (University of Washington) and Jovi Weller (Brigham Young University). They maintained a 4.0 grade point average through high school and they are six of 175 seniors that graduated on June 6.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Eric Danielson and Christine MacDougall Danielson stand together before the fifth grade Moving On ceremony at Helen Haller Elementary on June 12 and on their last day before retirement. Eric retired as a fifth grade teacher and Christine as a reading specialist at the elementary school. They retired on June 12 after 30-plus years teaching.

Sequim Gazette photo by Emily Matthiessen Clallam County’s first poet laureate, Jaiden Dokken, shares a poem about love with a crowd gathered at the Sequim Farmers and Artisans Market on June 28 for Sequim’s Pride Celebration on the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Riots. Speakers addressed subjects such as human rights, the history of the LGBTQIA+ movement, love and solidarity. This year marks the fourth time the celebration was held in Sequim, with a larger turnout each year.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash Sequim volunteer Emily Westcott has led the flower basket program along Washington Street since 1996 and this year she retired to focus on other endeavors. The City of Sequim and Sequim School District will continue the partnership. Westcott still seeks donations for downtown Sequim Christmas decorations through the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash Leaders with Holiday Inn Express & Suites, from left, Namaste Stayton, vice-president of hotel operations, Bret Wirta, owner, and Shelby Schleve, general manager, stand in “The Great Room” of the hotel. It was part of a massive, approximate $4 million remodel of the hotel that finished in August with opening up this space, refreshing hotel rooms and suites, and adding new amenities throughout the building.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash Michael Smith, executive director of Shipley Center, Sequim’s senior center, said in August they hope to be moved into the renovated former JCPenney space by the end of 2026 at 651 W. Washington St. The new space is nearly triple the size of Shipley Center’s current 11,000 square feet center at 921 E. Hammond St.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash Natalie Ramirez leads the line of kindergartners in Sarah Wilhelm’s class who were dropped off for the first day of school on Sept. 2 at Greywolf Elementary School. All other Sequim School District students started the week prior on Aug. 27.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash Fire Captain Marc Lawson with Clallam County Fire District 3 rings the City of Sequim’s bell on Sept. 11 to remember the nearly 3,000 people lost in terror attacks at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Community members and more than 600 schoolchildren traveled to the annual Dungeness River Festival on Sept. 26 to learn about the Dungeness Watershed. Helen Haller Elementary third graders, from left, David Hernandez, Kenny Johnson, Calvin Crews, and Carson Holland watch their blocks fall while playing a game with National Park Service staff learning about the importance of salmon in an ecosystem.

Sequim Gazette photo by Monica Berkseth Firefighter John McKenzie with Clallam County Fire District 3 throws candy into the air at the Sequim Prairie Grange’s Country Fair and Trunk-or-Treat for its “Great Candy Drop” on Oct. 25.

Sequim Gazette photo by Monica Berkseth Four-year-old Jaxon Kober of Sequim doesn’t hide his delight over the chance to visit with Santa by the community Christmas tree during Hometown Holidays in downtown Sequim on Saturday, Nov. 29.