by AMANDA WINTERS

Sequim Gazette

Linda Chancler loves Sequim and wants everyone to know why.

  The Australian-American entered, and won, a contest by the Public Broadcasting Station’s Independent Lens series to share on a national scale why Sequim is such a great place.

The contest, explaining in 140 characters or less why a ZIP code is the best, was announced on the Independent Lens’s Facebook page Nov. 30. The contest was inspired by the PBS documentary “45365,” which is about a small town in Ohio, and premiered Dec. 14.

Chancler entered the contest with a poem and made it to the top 10 on Dec. 8.

“I thought, what a great opportunity to tell people who haven’t heard about Sequim, what a great place it is,” she said.

Chancler herself discovered Sequim through television. After hauling a trailer from North Carolina to the Oregon coast several years ago with her two labrador retrievers, she ended up in Bellevue but still hadn’t found a place she wanted to call home, she said.

After watching an “Evening Magazine” segment on the North Olympic Peninsula, she wanted to find out more about Sequim.

“They showed the mountains and the lavender and the water,” she said. “I drove out and decided it was a great place to live.”

Chancler said she enjoys many outdoor activities living in Sequim, including biking, mushroom foraging and boating. She also likes to cook, eat seafood, drink wine and write.

Chancler’s poem and a profile about her and Sequim will be featured on PBS’s Independent Lens Website.

“This is the kind of publicity you can’t buy,” Chancler said.

Reach Amanda Winters at awinters@sequimgazette.com.