Category: Port Angeles

Hollywood sculpted in sand

The annual Windermere Sand Sculpture Classic contest was held recently in Port Angeles. I could only attend before the sculptors completed their works, which were themed “Hollywood.” Above is Sue McGrew of Tacoma working on “Hollywood Heroes,” which won first place.

Second place honors went to this piece entitled “Metropolis” by Delayne Corbett of Vancouver, B.C.

This year’s event included community team sculpting, which was a new feature here. Assisted by a master sculptor, two local groups learned sand sculpting, then each team worked collaboratively on a project. A dragon was taking shape, above, for a piece entitled “Phoenix Dragon” which was the work of about a dozen sculptors. The team event is an opportunity to get a start in this art form. This year’s winner started in Olympia in a similar contest.

Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts

There’s nothing like live music. There are a number of venues for it around the Olympic Peninsula, and other events that feature terrific performers, too. But the Juan de Fuca Festival is one of our favorites and the one we budget for. Musicians come from far and wide and there is a great diversity of musical styles. Mary Flower, above, is a guitarist and blues singer who has placed twice in the top three in the National Fingerpicking Championship, the only woman to do so.

Paul Chasman, above, accompanied Mary Flower on Saturday and also performed on Monday. He is a well known West Coast guitarist.

The Portland Cello Project performs nontraditional and classical music – a great mashup of styles, wonderfully interpreted. They give a whole new twist to what a cello can do. One original piece they played was entitled “Robin Hood Changes the Oil.” Great fun!

Sequimarimba!

Last weekend was the 19th annual Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts in Port Angeles. It’s a weekend full of live music and more. There’s free entertainment outside and dozens of live acts inside for paying customers. Sequimarimba played outside on Saturday.

Sequimarimba plays music largely from the Shona culture of Zimbabwe and the group has played together for decades. It was a perfect day for an outdoor performance and marimba music is upbeat and totally addictive. Click here for a link to a video of part of the performance I saw.

Theme Day – Action shot


City Daily Photo’s Theme Day today is “Action shot.” This barrel racing photo was taken at the Rodeo at Clallam County Fair in August. I loved this competition and the beautiful teamwork of horse and rider. If you’d like to see other action shots from this event, click here. Other events included bareback riding and bull riding.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

Clallam County Rodeo – Bareback Riding

Here’s another of those “Guy Thing” rodeo activities, an eight second ride on the back of an uncooperative horse and a surefire way to need a chiropractor. The cowboy must hold onto the leather and rawhide rigging with only one hand and keep his feet in the correct position when the horse hits the ground as it bounds out of a chute. The rider is disqualified if he touches his equipment, himself, or the horse with his free hand.

Another rider stays nearby during the ride and helps the bareback rider off the bucking horse at the end of his ride, which in itself qualifies as a mighty feat in my book. The riding is beautiful and skilled.

Clallam County Rodeo – Bull Riding

This is an event that I can only classify as “It’s a Guy Thing,” riding an angry bull barebacked.  The rider tries to remain forward or “over his hand” at all times; leaning back can result in getting him whipped forward and back when the bull bucks.

The bull doesn’t cooperate and the rides are quick. Most of the riders at the Sunday Rodeo were off in less than 7 seconds.

Riders try to fall away from the bull’s line of sight so it doesn’t come after him. I was surprised that this fellow was able to get up, dust himself off, and walk away. Notice the two men on each side of the photo, in yellow and in red. They’re rodeo clowns.

The rodeo clowns are there to distract the bull, keep it away from fallen riders. If they’re successful they can truly be in harm’s way. They were in constant movement during the bull riding event. One clown had to jump a fence to escape a particularly annoyed bull.

Shannon, I think this is why everyone warned you away from petting that beautiful bull whose picture you posted some months ago!