Sequim-area students gearing up for the 2018-2019 school year got a boost from the community with the six-annual Back to School Fair, held Aug. 25 at the Sequim Boys & Girls Club.

Event organizers counted 856 people come through the door, with 553 children receiving school supplies.

“I thought it went great this year,” said Janet Gray, resource development director for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula.

“We served a lot of people in a short three hours. We scaled back the hours because most people get there early on. Word is getting out there and we’re seeing a lot of grateful families.”

See more photos from the event here.

The fair, a free event serving Sequim families with children ages birth-18 years, included a number of services from haircuts, car seat checks and physicals to free school supplies, books, information from a number of community groups, plus a free lunch for all attendees.

School for most Sequim students starts Wednesday, Sept. 5 in Sequim.

The event was presented by Kiwanis Club of Sequim-Dungeness Valley, Parenting Matters, Sequim School District and the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula. In addition to those groups, vendor booths included: Parenting Matters/First Teacher; Boy Scouts; Sequim Food Bank; Volunteers in Medicine of the Olympics; Olympic Community Action Programs (OlyCAP); Little Explorers Learning Center; Olympic Peninsula YMCA; The Dungeness Valley Health & Wellness Clinic; Dungeness Community Church, and Vanir Construction Management.

Charlie Petersen, 5, and Chelsea, 8, learn a bit about healthy living while playing a beanbag toss game at the Olympic Peninsula Healthy Community Coalition booth at Saturday’s Back to School Fair, with help from volunteer Patty Shoop (right). Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell

Volunteers at Saturday’s Back to School Fair at the Sequim Boys & Girls Club organize school supply kits for local students.

Tokgnar Davis, 6, is all smiles after reaching the top of a climbing wall at the Aug. 25 Back to School Fair in Sequim. He and twi brother Tungsten were both able to reach the top … twice. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell

Tungsten Davis, 6, is all smiles after reaching the top of a climbing wall at the Aug. 25 Back to School Fair in Sequim. He and twin brother Tokgnar were both able to reach the top … twice.