PORT ANGELES — Lynda and Mike Desmarteau spent Friday night in Sequim.
After they heard about the Arts in Action Festival in Port Angeles, they had to give it a try.
On Saturday, the Gig Harbor couple — plus their dog, Bogart — took in the sights and smells of the 41st annual downtown art festival.
They wanted to stay another day, but couldn’t find a hotel room in the Gateway City.
“We hit them all, and they are all booked,” Lynda said.
Compared to the heat in their hometown, the weather in Port Angeles was a treat.
“It’s a lot cooler than anywhere else,” Mike said.
The high temperature in Port Angeles on Saturday was 89 degrees, compared with 95 degrees at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport or 101 degrees in Shelton, according to the National Weather Service.
‘World class event’
The highlight of the festival, the sand sculptures, brought people out by the throngs.
Doc Reiss, a co-chair of the event and the sculpture contest organizer, said about 300 people per hour paid the dollar fee and walked among the sculptures.
This year, the number of competing sculptures was raised by three to 11. Reiss said that total is about all the forum at Hollywood Beach can handle.
“This is awfully congested now,” he said.
However, the additional artists have upped the ante on what has already become a “sand out” event in sand sculpting.
“It is, literally, a world-class event,” Reiss, of Nor’wester Rotary Club, said.
This year’s theme is “Fun on the Farm,” suggested by Grace Shepard of Sequim, and the competing designs reflected it — from chickens and cows to pigs and a farmed fish.
The themes are picked for the contest in April, Reiss said, based on their interesting aspects as well as their ability to challenge the sculptors.
“At the same time it’s something the community could enjoy,” he said.
IN ADDITION TO the sand sculptures, the dozens of booths at and around City Pier, sidewalk displays downtown and the new artsy door display inside The Landing mall on Railroad Avenue, the final day of Arts in Action today will include:
* A Street Rod show, sponsored by Ruddell Auto Mall, at City Pier from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The first 50 entrants — any make or model — will be admitted.
* Music will be performed by BlackBird at 11 a.m.; Naki’i (Hawaiian) at 12:30 p.m.; Fat Chance (rock ‘n’ roll) at 2 p.m. and Dean Ratzman at 3:30 p.m.
