Dungeness River Festival
When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Sept. 23-24
Where: Railroad Bridge Park, 2151 W. Hendrickson Road in Sequim
Includes: Dozens of exhibitors with hands-on activities for all ages
Cost: Free entry
Olympic Driftwood Sculptors’ fall art show
10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 24-25, in the River Center
For more information, visit www.DungenessRiverCenter.org or call 681-4076
Saturday Schedule:
10 a.m. — Opening Ceremony Jamestown S’klallam Singers
11a.m. — Salmon and River Walk with Bob Boekelheide
Noon — Farm Fresh Cooking with Ankur Shaw
1 p.m. — Bridge Art and Stories Walk with Powell Jones
2 p.m. — Bridge and Trestle Talk with Ken Wiersema
3 p.m. — Ethnobotony Survival Challenge with Jenna Ziogas
The bridge is back and at full strength for the 17th Dungeness River Festival.
A year removed from the centennial celebration of the Dungeness River Railroad Bridge, festival-goers can enjoy both the historical bridge and beautiful new bridge, says Powell Jones, executive director of the Dungeness River Audubon Center.
The bridge was under construction last year limiting access to both the Olympic Discovery Trail and Dungeness River, but it reopened in December 2015 after storm damage brought down a portion of the trestle in February 2015.
The River Festival features a full array of activities from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Sept. 23-24, in Railroad Bridge Park, 2151 W. Hendrickson Road in Sequim.
Admission remains free and includes live music and dance, more than 20 hands-on activities and exhibits for all visitors including fish printing, guided walks and more.
The Olympic Driftwood Sculptors hold its fall art show with up to 80 sculptures from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 24-25, in the River Center.
As tradition, local elementary school students in grades 3-5 visit the festival on Friday.
“The festival is a wonderful time for students of our area to connect with the watershed that they call home and learn about how they can help preserve and enjoy it,” Jones said.
The Five Acre School marimba band, the Sound Waves, performs at 10:30 a.m. and again at 12:15 p.m. on Friday.
At 10 a.m. Saturday, the Jamestown S’Klallam drummers and singers open the festival with a traditional welcome ceremony that includes a circle dance open to all.
Festival organizers are bringing in a few new attractions including a Farm Fresh Cooking demonstration by Ankur Shaw, Bridge Art and Stories by Powell Jones, and a Ethnobotany Survival Challenge walk by the River Center’s new education coordinator Jenna Ziogas.
Past favorites also return including a River and Salmon Walk at 11 a.m. Saturday with Bob Boekelheide and Ken Wiersema presents “How They Built the Bridge” followed by a walk up to the bridge at 2:30 p.m.
Jones also will lead a walk and tour of the S’Klallam art on the bridge that was installed during construction at a time to be determined on Saturday.
Throughout the festival, local, state, federal, tribal and nonprofit entities active on the North Olympic Peninsula offer interactive nature exhibits and activities, as well as exhibits that demonstrate energy efficiency, water conservation and clean air.
Organizers encourage visitors to make a fish print for a T-shirt, learn how worms breathe and to hold a geoduck clam.
The River Center and its partners, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society, sponsor the annual Dungeness River Festival.
The center’s mission along with the festival is to inspire understanding, enjoyment and stewardship of the Olympic Peninsula’s unique natural and cultural resources, with emphasis on birds, rivers, fish and people.
For more information on the festival or river center, visit www.DungenessRiverCenter.org or call 681-4076.
Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
