By SCOTT D. JOHNSTON
For Twin Harbors Newspaper Group
The 31st annual Beachcombers Fun Fair will bring together all kinds of information, experts and enthusiasts for a weekend that event planner Dianne Hansen says is “all about the love of the beach.”
Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Ocean Shores Convention Center. Admission, good for both days, is $3 for adults, $1 for children ages 5 to 12, and free for younger children.
Along with the speakers, displays, hands-on educational activities and beach-related vendors, the event offers local beachcombers the opportunity to display some of their finds and creative talents.
In her third year as producer of the event, Hansen explained that a popular, traditional part of the festival is the numerous displays from members of the general public of all manner of things found on beaches in the Pacific Northwest. She expects several hundred entries in more than 40 categories, which include single objects, collections and photography, as well as various creative and artistic efforts, such as collages, carvings, mobiles, mosaics, flower arrangements, home décor and furnishings.
Entries should be brought to the venue on Friday between 2 and 7 p.m. Entry forms may be picked up and completed on-site, but are also available in advance at the Visitors Information Center on the west side of the Convention Center or at the Dusty Trunk, 759 Pt. Brown Ave. NW.
All entries must be retrieved just after the event closes, between 4 and 5 p.m. Sunday. There is no charge to enter any of the display categories. Entrants are competing for ribbons and Best of Show and People’s Choice awards.
In addition to an array of informational and educational booths, displays and kids’ activities both days, four beachcombing experts are on tap for Saturday afternoon seminars:
• 1 p.m., David Berger, author of “Razor Clams: Buried Treasure of the Pacific Northwest.”
• 2 p.m., retired UW oceanographer and “Flotsametrics” author Curtis Ebbesmeyer.
• 3 p.m., John Anderson, owner of John’s Beachcombing Museum in Forks.
• 4 p.m., Alan Rammer, retired WDFW shellfish biologist and educator, and one of the event’s founders.
At 5 p.m., these four will be joined by Steve Green, of the Ocean Shores Coastal Interpretive Center, for a panel discussion, including identification of unusual items found on area beaches.
On Sunday morning, Rammer will conduct his annual educational beach walk. Space is limited and people should sign up at the event on Saturday.
At the same time, folks can pick up free trash bags for the other Sunday morning activity, Ebbesmeyer’s “Dash for Trash and Treasure.” From 9 to 11 a.m., people can bring their freshly found items from the beach to tables set up just outside the Convention Center, where he will offer his observations about their origins.
Hansen said the annual festival is one of just a handful of similar celebrations, where “experts share their world” with the people who live, work and play on and around the beach, and look at “why we’re here and why we need to preserve it.”
More information is available on the festival’s Facebook event page.
