Contents

6 Welcome

8 BOD

10 Beatuy in the Dungeness Valley

14 Local Events

22 Volunteers

24 Celebrating our Members

28 The Granary

32 The Joe Rantz House

34 The Sequim City Band

38 Jamestown S’Klallam

40 Olympic Discovery Trail

44 Directory

Sequim-Dungeness Chamber of Commerce

1192 E Washington St. | Sequim, WA 98382

(360) 683-6197 | www.sequimchamber.com

This is a Town Square Publication

created and produced for the

Sequim-Dungeness Chamber of Commerce

Copyright © 2024 Town Square Publications

P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, IL 60006

(847) 427-4905 | tbusby@tspubsdigital.com

www.townsquarepublications.com

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this publication. The Chamber and Town Square assume no responsibility for misinformation. Please contact the Chamber with any additions or corrections. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission of the Chamber and Town Square is prohibited.

Chairman, CEO and Publisher | Douglas K. Ray

President and Chief Operating Officer | Scott Stone

Vice President / Director | Scott Ray

Managing Director | David Small

Director of Production | Ryan Moore

Director of Operations | Joseph Nugara

Ad Services Supervisor | Tiffany Hogan

Advertising Coordinator | Cindy Groenhof

Sales Executive | Dede Harmell

Senior Editor | Rebecca Anderson

Editor | Mia Katz

_________________________

Contributing Designer | Jody Webster

Contributing Photographers | Time Catcher Photography, Keith’s Frame of Mind,
Dave Pittman, Olympic Aerial Solutions, Chelsea Reichner, Larry Hueth

Beauty in the Dungeness Valley
How Our Garden Grows

While Olympic National Park often draws our guests to experience nature on the million-acre scale of mountains, woodlands, and ocean hikes, Sequim is a perfect place to stop and look for natural beauty in our many parks and gardens.

At Carrie Blake Park and Water Reclamation Reuse Facility, there are a variety of garden areas, including our Japanese Garden in partnership with our sister city Shiso, Japan. Bell Creek runs through the park, with natural wetland areas supplemented by a stocked trout pond for children to enjoy.

In 2007, a group of WSU Master Gardeners, working with the City of Sequim Public Works Director, designed and planned construction of a garden on the terraces of the Water Reuse Demonstration Project. The vision of this garden was to provide the public with research-based sustainable gardening practices and educational information they could use in their home gardens. In 2008, the project came to fruition, showcasing lavender, dahlias, roses, heather, and many more flowering plants that thrive in Sequim’s climate. By 2018, the garden and volunteer organization were renamed as the Sequim Botanical Garden and Sequim Botanical Garden Society, now an independent 501c3.

Sequim’s Pioneer Park is one of Washington’s newest registered arboretums. Overseen by the Sequim Prairie Garden Club, founded in 1947 by a small group of ambitious, civic-minded women with the initial goal being the beautification of a 4-acre abandoned cemetery that had closed in 1919. Now, 76 years later, they have achieved a Level I Accreditation by The ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program and The Morton Arboretum, for achieving particular standards of professional practices deemed important for arboreta and botanic gardens. The amazing variety in the park includes:

• 190 different tree specimens, with 68 of those trees native to Washington State.

• 51 different tree species, with 11 of those species native to Washington State, including 22 species of conifers, 27 species of deciduous, and 2 broadleaf evergreen trees.

• In addition to having many of Washington State’s native tree species, the most significant aspect of the arboretum is the collection of 47 mature, native Oregon White Oak, Quercus garryana, many of which having multiple trunks.

We also enjoy lavender and cutting garden farms, open to the public during the summer, where you can choose to harvest your own peonies, dahlias, or daisies, or cut bundles of lavender to use in your own cooking or crafting throughout the year. The Sequim Lavender Festival is held on the third full weekend of July every year.

Artists and their Art

Both the Blue Whole Gallery, a collective of local artists who operate the gallery as a team, and Rain Shadow Artisans, a bi-monthly craft fair, showcase visual and written creations for sale by the artist.

The Blue Whole Gallery, located in the heart of downtown Sequim, showcases the diverse talents of more than 25 local artists, offering a vibrant array of paintings, sculptures, ceramics, photography, glass, wood, jewelry and more. The award winning gallery serves as a cultural hub, fostering community engagement and celebrating the region’s artistic spirit. It is also a cooperative gallery and members not only create the artwork for sale, but also work in the gallery completing the duties needed for the daily operations.

Rain Shadow Artisans operates bi-monthly at the Dungeness River Nature Center, a wonderful stop along the Olympic Discovery Trail. Nestled beside Hurricane Coffee and across the way from the DRNC gift shop, the Rain Shadow Artisans display their wares in the main conference facility. Shoppers have plenty of space to step back to appreciate paintings or come in close to examine the fiber arts creations.

Often, partnerships spring up between various arts organizations in Sequim. For example, Olympic Peninsula Authors, a collective of local writers, publish anthologies of local works which you can find at Rain Shadow Artisans. However, you will also find them hosting readings and ekphrastic poetry events at the Blue Whole Gallery on Wednesdays.

Sequim’s Farmer’s & Artisans Market is open every Saturday from May through September, and they hold special artisans markets in the fall months, before the holidays, to give customers another opportunity to connect with their local artists. In addition, our local farms are producing fresh eggs, local meats, and vegetables throughout the year and many are at the Farmer’s Market each Saturday.

Year-Round Celebrations

Every year, the Chamber of Commerce hosts or supports a number of events for our community. We kick off our event calendar each year with Sequim’s Citizen of the Year award.

Citizen of the Year

The Citizen of the Year award was created in 1968, and the first recipient of the award was Mayor Peter Black. Now, more than 55 years later, the prior winners of the award from each year make up the committee who votes to choose both the three finalists and the winner of this annual honor. Our 2023 Citizen of the Year award went to local educator, business owner, and volunteer, Renne Brock, who has given tirelessly to our community, mostly through the First Friday Art Walk and the Fiber Arts Festival each fall. She organizes and publicizes these events as a donation back to the community, exactly the spirit of the award.

To see all the past winners, you can find the list at https://www.sequimchamber.com/coty/.

Bird Quest

Bird Quest is a partnership between the Chamber of Commerce, Sequim High School arts department, the Dungeness River Nature Center, and the Audubon Society. During the month of April, sculptures of birds created by local students are put on display in local businesses for all to enjoy. To make it fun, it is also a hide-and-seek game, where you have the list of venues, and the list of birds, but you have to match them up to enter for the prize. There is also a vote for “People’s Choice” which awards the top three vote-getting students $50 each. At the end of the display, the artwork goes to the high school for their annual art show.

Sunshine Festival

Now five years running, the first weekend of March is the Sunshine Festival in Sunny Sequim. The event falls on Friday evening and all day Saturday, culminating in a lighted drone show over Carrie Blake Park. With local artisans showcasing their wares, local musicians performing rain or shine, and a Color Run and Walk, where the Chamber is Station Orange, the Sunshine Festival highlights the ways that Sequim is full of sunshine, even when the clouds of winter obscure the view.

Sequim’s Irrigation Festival

For 129 years, Sequim has hosted what is now the longest-running festival in Washington State – the Irrigation Festival.

A two-weekend event, the Festival kicks off with Crazy Callen Weekend. There is an Art & Craft Fair, a Trashion Show of recycled fashion, music on stage, a murder mystery breakfast, and more!

Over the following weekend, we enjoy both a classic car show and the Grand Parade – events that bring everyone home for the weekend every year.

Sequim Lavender Weekend

The Dungeness Valley is the “Lavender Capital of North America,” with more than 20 farms blooming through the summer months. Depending on spring weather, blooms start sometime in June and there are several varieties that bloom well into August.

During the third full weekend of July, the Sequim Lavender Grower’s Association holds their annual 3-day festival at Carrie Blake Park, with vendors, food and music all weekend long. Other organizations join in, from a performance at Olympic Theater Arts of the Lavender Melodrama every year to a quilt show by Sunbonnet Sue Quilters. The farms that are open to the public hold extra events onsite during festival weekend, too, with music, food, kid crafts and demonstrations.

Lavender grown in Sequim is shipped worldwide in the form of plant starts (half of the states in the U.S. have lavender plants that started in Sequim), essential oils, foodstuffs, sachets, flower bundles, and so much more.

Hometown Holidays

Wrapping up our events calendar, the Chamber hosts Hometown Holidays on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We start the day with our friends from the Sequim City Band performing as Santa arrives at our City’s Christmas Tree, with a courtesy ride in Clallam County Fire District #3’s antique engine. He is joined at his sleigh by the current royal court of the Irrigation Festival in their full parade ensembles, and they are all available for photos throughout the afternoon.

When the sun goes down, we tell the crowd who has one the “Guess How Many Lights?” game and countdown to the lighting of the tree for the year. The Sequim Museum and Arts works with the FFA students of Sequim High School to host a Lighted Tractor Cruise, too, that rolls through town, celebrating our farming heritage in the Dungeness Valley.

Volunteers at the VIC

Welcoming visitors is easy when you live in the Dungeness Valley - we all love where we live and cannot wait to share what we love most about this beautiful place we call home.

The volunteers at our Visitor Information Center, a team of more than two dozen experienced travelers and Sequim lovers, staff the front desk from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday, all year long. They come from various careers, from many locations around the United States, and have varying interests that drew them to Sequim.

What these volunteers have in common is their passion about Sequim. For some, it is the opportunity to fish the Strait of Juan de Fuca or sail from John Wayne Marina. Others found a new community in the arts, writing ekphrastic poems while viewing art at the Blue Whole Gallery. And more came for the access to the innumerable trails in the Olympic National Park, National Forests, and local parks across the North Coast.

Outside the Visitor Information Center, many of our regular volunteers also step up for our events. We provide crossing guards for the Downtown Trick-or-Treat (in costume!) every year to keep our families safe. When we offer the Visitor Center as a stop along the Olympic Discovery Trail during races, like the North Olympic Discovery Marathon or Frosty Moss Relay, they step up to act as hosts to the many runners and supporters along the race. And when we hold our annual events, like our Business Showcase or Citizen of the Year Luncheon, they are there to help us set up, greet our guests, and clean up at the end of the day.

One of our volunteers (who does not take a regular 3-hour shift each week) is Emily Westcott. Westcott donates more of her time to Sequim’s beautification than anyone. She works to collect sponsors for the hanging flower baskets that decorate Washington Street, helps to set up Christmas lights all over downtown, advises the city crews when selecting and setting up the Sequim’s Christmas Tree, and works with people who need community service orders for the courts. For community service, Westcott deploys her team to mow, edge, weed and clean up all through town, including at the Visitor Center.

You are invited to the VIC to visit with our volunteers, whether as a one-time guest to Sequim or long-term resident. They will surprise you with their knowledge and give you recommendations for adventures you hadn’t even considered.

CELEBRATING OUR

MEMBERS

Our favorite thing to do at the Chamber of Commerce is celebrating our member organizations. From grand openings, to new products for sale, we come with our team of Ambassadors. The Ambassadors are volunteers, staff, and member employees who take time out of their day to celebrate milestone achievements. We roll up in our purple vests, in our purple glasses, with our big, purple scissors and ribbon, and countdown to the big CUT.

Since 2016, we have also recognized a Member of the Month from our membership roster. We bring a certificate, a gift, our board members, and our cheer to celebrate the business being honored. Animal rescue organizations, community partners, businesses who support our local events - any of our members are eligible to be recognized for their good work! Winners of this monthly award are selected by our board of directors at our monthly meeting. You can see all of the past Members of the Month at our website at http://www.sequimchamber.com/business-of-the-month.

Our members are what make Sequim the amazing Olympic Peninsula gem that it is – join us as we celebrate all they do for our community each month.

The Granary

Giving Life to a Long-time Local Landmark

By Matt Beardmore

Jason Hoffman’s family goes back several generations in Sequim and Ryan Schaafsma was just 3 years old when his family migrated down from Alaska. So, like most people who call the Lavender Capital of North America their home, these two long-time friends and current business partners understand the historical significance Sequim’s grain elevator, aka “The Granary,” is to the city, as is keeping its presence viable and relevant into the future. That vision, along with a desire to create a special place where the community and visitors alike can gather and create memories, were major reasons why Schaafsma and Hoffman purchased the old Clallam Co-Op granary two years ago. It is also why they are investing so much time, money and effort to restore The Granary and make their vision a reality for Sequim.

Hoffman and Schaafsma have known each other since they were young children attending the same local church, school and occasionally sharing a sports team. In high school, both got their first jobs at the local lumberyard, then, their childhood friendship took a pause when Schaafsma left the area having joined the Marine Corps. They reconnected when Schaafsma returned home and the two realized they were at the same points in their lives – married with young kids (Schaafsma has two boys, and Hoffman, three girls) and new businesses. Hoffman owns Olympic Peninsula Stone, Inc., a Sequim-based stone fabrication and installation company, while Schaafsma manages a local storage facility and works in commercial development.

“Being relatively successful on the business front has afforded us the opportunity to even consider doing something like this,” Hoffman said of the significant investment he and Schaafsma made when purchasing The Granary in May 2022. The pair purchased the building from local businesswoman, Linda “Candy” Diesen, the owner of Tootsie’s, a popular drive thru hamburger restaurant that is located next-door to the nearly 100-foot-tall elevator. “Candy has been incredibly supportive of us and instrumental in making this project a reality,” added Schaafsma. “I don’t think many people necessarily dream of remodeling a century-old building, but the opportunity to create something incredibly unique was something we just couldn’t pass up!”

The original warehouse portion of The Granary was completed in the late-teens or early 1920’s, while the main, 85-foot grain elevator – the city’s tallest structure that some affectionately refer to as “Sequim’s skyscraper” – was finished in 1944. Schaafsma and Hoffman have spent nearly as much time researching the building’s history and investigating the many conflicting dates and details of the structures’ multi-phased history as they have pulling nails. This aspect of the venture is primarily an afterhours ‘passion project’ and one that will likely continue as more resources become available and locals share their own memories and historical documents. Note: If you have historical details or photos to share, please use the project email: thesequimgranary@gmail.com.

“It had taken on a bit of an uncharacteristic ambiance as a Mexican restaurant,” Schaafsma remarked. However, he adds “In an agricultural town, taking it back to its original roots and restoring its historical character is very important to us.” That attention to detail and appreciation of the structure’s history is evident as Hoffman and Schaafsma have continuous conversations about “how custom everything has to be” as they strive to responsibly restore the building wherever possible, but also create a new and sustainable venue.

While the Granary’s new owners have made some significant progress on restoring the 100-year-old structure – for example, they added a new roof, completed new siding and revealed and replaced the windows in the upper cupola that had been covered since the 1980s – the project quickly turned into a full gut job remodel as there were some structural issues caused by an infestation of more than a half dozen termite colonies, among other unforeseen challenges. “That was definitely a setback, and the timeline we set in the first year quickly changed into taking on one thing at a time,” Hoffman said.

Upon the completion of the renovation, Hoffman and Schaafsma envision a multi-venue space. First, it would be a taproom and eating venue. “We ultimately would love to open a brewery, but neither of us have experience in that arena, so we anticipate finding partner(s) that can help make that vision a reality,” Schaafsma said. In another portion of the building, they plan on adding three short-term hotel room/guest rentals (some of those will be in the portion of the building that used to be grain silos), and lastly, a coffee shop and wine lounge. “We keep hearing from locals that music and dancing is something that has been sorely missed around town, so we might try to do something about that too,” Schaafsma added.

“This project is something we really want to make special for the community,” Hoffman and Schaafsma agreed. Said Hoffman: “It’s been a lot of work since we have other jobs, young kids and, for my family, we are in the middle of building our new home, but it’s something Ryan and I are passionate about doing and something we’ll be passing along to generations to come.”

“We look forward to sharing more along the way to completing this unique destination for folks to visit and learn about the history of our grain mill and the role it played in Sequim’s history, as well as a one-of-a-kind gathering place for locals and visitors to connect with one another and just enjoy life!” Schaafsma said.

For more updates on The Granary in Sequim’s progress, please visit https://www.facebook.com/thesequimgranary/.

The Joe Rantz House

Honoring a Sequim Olympic Gold Medalist Shines a Light on a Local Concern

By Matt Beardmore

When Patricia McCauley found out her friend Brandi Salmon, a former Sequim Sunrise Rotary club member, was flying home to Australia, she suggested she read Daniel James Brown’s book The Boys in the Boat during the long flight.

Salmon’s response after learning the story of Joe Rantz, who spent part of a difficult adolescence in Sequim before helping a group of University of Washington rowers win Olympic gold in the coxed eights at the 1936 Summer Games?

“She said, ‘There’s nothing in this town that honors Rantz except this little sign (on Highway 101),’” McCauley said. “’He’s an Olympic gold medalist; you must do something about this.’ That planted the seed.”

What has grown out of that conversation has been a renewed focus on Rantz’s rowing accomplishments and the connection between his young teen struggles and the current homelessness situation in Sequim. When Rantz attended Sequim High School during the late 1920s, his father, stepmother, and half-siblings moved out of the family home and left Rantz – alone. According to a profile of Rantz by the National Federation of State High School Associations, the teenager “lived alone in a half-finished cabin in the woods outside Sequim” for the next two years, “all the while continuing to attend school in Sequim and making good grades.” Rantz moved in with his older brother in Seattle for his senior year, where he finished high school before enrolling at the University of Washington.

Fast-forward nearly 100 years, and during the 2023-24 school year, the Sequim School District identified 153 students – or 6.01% of the district – that qualified for the McKinney-Vento program, which is a federal program that “ensures immediate enrollment and educational stability for homeless children and youth.” The Joe Rantz Youth Fund was formed in 2018 by the Sequim Sunrise Rotary “to help housing insecure teens graduate from high school. The new goal is to build a home for Sequim’s homeless youth, the Joe Rantz Rotary Youth House.”

“Last year, our Rotary decided we were tired of talking about trying to find a place for these kids, so we decided to build a house,” said McCauley, the Rotary’s Service Project Chair for the Joe Rantz Youth Fund.

When constructed, the Joe Rantz Rotary Youth House will house up to 12 homeless high-school-aged teens plus three drop-ins in Sequim.

In January 2024, an anonymous donor – a former University of Washington singles rower – donated a piece of property that is walkable to Sequim High School and is the proposed site of the Joe Rantz Rotary Youth House.

“It’s a great location in town,” McCauley said. “If I had been shopping for the perfect location, that would be it.”

Two significant obstacles remain before this home can open its doors to housing insecure teens. The first is finances. McCauley said they have $150,000 in the bank for the project as of June, but will likely need $1 million to cover construction costs. Also, this project will only be feasible if a social partner organization runs the house daily.

Once construction begins, McCauley estimates the project will take at least two years and that they also might seek help from service agencies such as our local Habitat for Humanity crews to complete some of the work.

While the Rotary has played a crucial role in honoring Rantz and addressing the homelessness situation in Sequim, the contributions of Sequim High School’s Interact Club deserve plenty of mention. The group, a service learning club that helps “raise awareness about the five pillars of impact in a community: education, water, health, food, and opportunity,” has helped the Rotary raise funds and much attention for the Joe Rantz Rotary Youth House.

Last February, the club created a viral TikTok video targeted at George Clooney to hold a premiere of his 2023 film, The Boy in the Boat, at Sequim High School to benefit the Joe Rantz Youth Fund. The premiere in Sequim never happened (Clooney instead attended a Seattle premiere of the film last December). Still, due to the student’s efforts, MGM Studios allowed the Sequim Sunrise Rotary to present a courtesy film screening, which resulted in thousands of dollars being raised for the Joe Rantz Youth Fund.

Interact Club members were also instrumental in 2023, helping the high school’s Senior Play raise enough money this past school year for their homeless classmates to dress up, go out to dinner, and attend the student-funded Senior Ball with their peers.

“One of the most enduring results I’ve seen with the Interact Club these past two years is the Interact teens going from apathetic about homelessness in the high school to empathetic,” McCauley said. “It’s been so beautiful to watch.”

For more information on how to support the
Joe Rantz Rotary Youth House, please visit
https://joerantzrotaryyouthfund.org.

Harmony and Heritage:

The Sequim City Band’s Story of Growth, Community and Musical Excellence

By Marc Sheforgen

For Vicky Blakesley, choosing to retire in Sequim was about a lot more than just finding a peaceful place and an agreeable climate. It was about the opportunity to play bass clarinet in the Sequim City Band, an organization that has grown to become a cultural cornerstone of the community.

This is no ordinary band. The group was founded in 1992 by Chuck Swisher, a retired music educator who, upon moving to Sequim, realized there were no local opportunities to play his instrument. So he started a band and even attracted 14 members. Since then, the band’s roster has swelled to more than 100 musicians, all volunteering their time to pursue a regular year-round rehearsal and performance schedule that’s so impressive the band won a 2023 Governor’s Arts and Heritage Award.

Blakesley, who played bass clarinet through college and even minored in music, had put down her instrument while she pursued a career designing, implementing and doing data summary for clinical research trials at pharmaceutical companies. When she retired in 2010, music came back into focus for Blakesley, and she found the extraordinary goings-ons with the Sequim City Band very attractive.

“It was one of my reasons to move to Sequim,” she said. “And I’d make the same move again.”

Blakesley, also a past president and secretary on the band’s board of directors who now concentrates on publicity for the band, said interest in the band, be it from prospective members, the audience and the community in general, is booming.

“We’re growing by leaps and bounds,” she said. “We’re developing a professional way of putting on concerts. We support youth musicians, which has given us a reputation. And the real key feature is when we hired our director, Tyler Benedict. In essence, we’re putting out a good product, and that’s what does it.”

High points in the band’s continuous momentum include the 2023 opening of a dedicated rehearsal hall, a project funded entirely through grants and band member and community support, which followed the 2005 building of the open-air stage at the James Center for the Performing Arts, where the band performs its summer concert series. The band donated the James Center to the City of Sequim, and the stage is an integral part of the local music scene.

Band members range from high school aged to well into retirement. The common bond is music and a commitment to maintaining and building on the excellent standard and reputation the band now enjoys as a result of a year-round schedule of performances in varying styles of music. Interest is so good that there’s even talk of expanding the band’s reach to play some further-away venues.

“We have big dreams,” Blakesley said. “We want to double down and enhance our efforts.”

To learn more about the Sequim City Band, find them on Facebook or visit http://www.sequimcityband.org/.

Carving Legacy and Inviting Questions:

The Majestic Totem Poles of the
Jamestown S’Klallam

By Marc Sheforgen

To Teresa Smithlin of the Jamestown S’Klallam from the Fitzgerald-Chubby family, the totem poles found throughout Sequim represent much more than any single component, even if those include beauty, art, culture, storytelling and history. The totems combine the importance of each factor in a way that transcends any one of them. And Smithlin said that every totem invites a discussion.

“We want people to just look at it and be amazed by the beauty,” she said. “But we love it when people are curious and they want to ask questions, because that’s so important to our culture; the asking of questions.”

Questions, and the totems that invite them, prompt the opportunity for not just cultural preservation but continuous growth, Smithlin said.

“Sometimes there’s a sense that Native American people are preserved in amber, that we’re a relic of the past,” she said. “We respect the past, but we also look forward, and we’re a thriving people to this day. In our current practice, we use the totem poles to tell stories, to maybe honor certain individuals. So, it’s all tied up in our history and our storytelling.”

The 7 Cedars Resort, where Smithlin works as Human Resources Generalist, opened in 1995 and included seven cedar-carved totems as part of the original design. The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe that owns and operates the property has since added an eighth pole at the front of the hotel as well as more than two dozen carvings around Sequim, including the 30-foot totem on the Community Plaza in front of the Civic Center that the tribe donated to the city of Sequim in 2015.

The S’Klallam operate a carving shed called the House of Myths where artists can learn, teach and collaborate on their craft. The Tribe initially carved house posts rather than the free-standing poles also found throughout Sequim today. Each pole is carved from western red cedar that is at least 300 years old and preferably 800 years or older. Poles like the one in front of the 7 Cedars hotel are as tall as 42-and-a-half feet. And each pole tells a story of importance, Smithlin said.

“We want to be able to take our artwork and pass it down to the next generation,” she said. “Because this is something that is taught. My daughter is one of the newer people in the carving operation. She got a chance to paint on our wooden canoe that my mom helped carve out. It’s a way to pass down a practice and to explain one-on-one and to share on a personal level.”

Olympic Discovery Trail Grows in Popularity as Part of the Great American Rail Trail

By Glenn Stephens

Jeff Bohman remembers when a multiuser trail across the Olympic Peninsula was just a dream. Thirty-five years later, 90 miles of the proposed 135 miles of the Olympic Discovery Trail (ODT) stretching from Port Townsend to the coastal village of La Push is complete.

In 2022, the ODT was officially designated by the Rails to Trails Conservancy as the western tip of a 3,700-mile-long coast-to-coast network of trails along abandoned railroad beds. It is known as the Great American Rail Trail.

“Becoming part of the Great American Rail Trail has brought a significant increase in attention and resources to our trail-building efforts across the Olympic Peninsula over the past five years, and that has led to greater support that has been very helpful,” says Bohman, president of the Peninsula Trails Coalition,

The Peninsula Trail Coalition was formed in 1988 and worked to connect small pieces of trails, mostly along an abandoned railroad corridor. Bohman attributes a large measure of the coalition’s success to the work of Rich James, now retired after serving as transportation program manager in the Public Works Department for Clallam County. During his 29 years with the county, James oversaw the county’s efforts to fund and build the Olympic Discovery Trail. James is now a member of the PTC organization’s board of directors.

Development of the trails involves acquiring land, restoration of old railroad trestles and upgrading surfaces to accommodate hikers, bikers and, in some areas, equestrians and riders of electric bicycles. That has been accomplished through the joint efforts of two counties, four municipalities, three Native American tribes, the State Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Forest Service and Olympic National Park.

“Clallam County began to marshal its efforts to ramp up the trail-building process around 1993 when a major update of the county’s comprehensive plan was undertaken and included goals to complete the Olympic Discovery Trail,” James says. “We started off near Sequim, where the Jamestown Tribe, the Audubon Center and the PTC had restored a historic railroad trestle over the Dungeness River. The county extended that original one mile of trail an additional two miles to the west toward Port Angeles. Over the next 10 years, the county just kept picking off pieces of trail to connect Sequim and Port Angeles.”

Even with 40 miles of gaps yet to be filled, the completed 90 miles of Olympic Discovery Trail has gained popularity among Washington residents and outdoor enthusiasts nationally and internationally.

“The overall usage is more than 300,000 trail users a year,” Bohman says. “On a busy summer weekend day, there can be several thousand people on various parts of the trail. Users have included groups from as far away as Taiwan.”

That usage, plus events held on the trail such as the Olympic Discovery Marathon, translates into a multimillion-dollar boost for the area’s economy each year, with visitors seeking lodging, camping and meals in and around cities, towns, parks and villages that the trail passes through.

Those accommodations will grow, Bohman says, as work toward completion of the trail continues for the next five to 10 years.