Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival

The 34th annual Wooden Boat Festival takes place in Port Townsend September 10-12, 2010. It’s a great time to head to the Olympic Peninsula. Every year, a spectacular assortment of wooden boats make the pilgrimage to Port Townsend, where they are admired and appreciated by thousands.

Now is a good time to plan to attend the Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend. Book a room and make a reservation at your favorite restaurant, but be sure to leave time for a little Washington state wine tasting at the two Washington State wineries in town: Sorenson Celllars and FairWinds Winery. On your way to or from the festival, pick up a bottle of amazing Washington State apple cider at FinnRiver Farm and Cidery, in Chimacum.

Wooden Boat Festival

Admire wooden boats and beautiful scenery during Port Townsend's Wooden Boat Fesival

Visit Hurricane Ridge

Road leading up to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park

The road to Hurricane Ridge.

Beautiful August weather has returned, which means it’s a great time to drive to the top of Hurricane Ridge, in the Olympic National Park. The views are unparalleled, both from the peak and from several scenic overlooks along the way. Once at Hurricane Ridge, a paved loop leads to expansive views, while unpaved trails lead to the heart of the Olympic Mountains. You may hear a whistling marmot welcoming you to the wilderness.

Once you’ve returned to sea level on the Olympic Peninsula, visit Washington State Wineries in and around Port Angeles. Wines produced on the Olympic Peninsula come from grapes grown here and in eastern Washington State. Wine tastings are offered daily during the summer, and are a wonderful way to find the wines you really love.

Select a bottle or two to bring back home; and when you drink them, remember what it felt like to stand on top of the world.

Gray Skies? Drink Washington Wine.

If you live in the Pacific Northwest, or indeed anywhere on the west coast, you may be feeling a bit down. We live through months of gray skies secure in the knowledge that come summer, our skies will be blue. “Sure it can be rainy”, we tell friends who live elsewhere, “but when the sun comes out, no place on earth can match its beauty.” So where are you sun?

Denuded mountains in Olympic National Park, Port Angeles, and Victoria B.C. way in the distance

View of Victoria from the Olympic National Park, outside of Port Angeles.

Well, those of us who make Washington State Wines can’t make the sun shine in Washington State, but we can help to cheer you. Head to the Sequim area – if it will be sunny anywhere in western Washington, it will be sunny here in the Olympic Rainshadow. Stay awhile, and taste Washington wines and ciders at our seven wineries from Port Angeles to Port Townsend.

A little time on the Olympic Peninsula can make anyone feel better. A walk out to the lighthouse at the tip of Dungeness Spit, in Sequim, is magnificent no matter the weather. A drive up to Hurricane Ridge, outside of Port Angeles, is sure to raise your spirits. Dinner in historic Port Townsend tastes good, rain or shine.

It is imperative to include wine tasting in your Olympic Peninsula holiday. After a drive up to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park, stop by Harbinger Winery, Camaraderie Cellars, and Black Diamond Winery. After a walk on the Dungeness Spit, visit Olympic Cellars. On your way to Port Townsend, enjoy a cider at FinnRiver Farm and Cidery, in Chimacum, and once in Port Townsend, stop by Sorenson Cellars and FairWinds Winery.

To keep your spirits raised, pick up a few bottles of your favorite Olympic Peninsula Washington Wines and take them home. That way, no matter what the weather does, you can find solace in a glass of good wine.

The Blues and Washington Wine

The Port Townsend Accoustic Blues Festival is currently taking place at historic Fort Worden, in Port Towsend, WA. During the past fifteen years, some of the most respected names in Accoustic Blues have come to Washington’s Olympic Peninsula for this wonderful event. This year, as in the past, hundreds of musicians are spending most waking moments playing, listening, learning, and sharing the blues. (more…)

Even Elk Love Washington State Wine

Last August, a herd of elk wandered through our Washington State Winery on the Olympic Peninsula. We assumed it was because they liked the scent of our wine.

We can’t promise the elk will drop by for some of our Washington State wine this August, but you never know. We can promise you an enjoyable wine tasting experience.

Elk graze near Olympic Cellars, between Sequim and Port Angeles, WA.

Olympic Music Festival

The Olympic Music Festival is underway for the 27th season, Saturdays and Sundays at 2pm through August 22, 2010.

Weekend afternoons, lovely chamber music fills a beautiful turn-of-the-century barn. Founder Alan Iglitzin and a wonderful collection of talented musicians delight audiences with music by composers such as Schubert, Schumann, Fujiwara, and Shostakovich, among others.

We hope you'll take time to partake in the Olympic Music Festival this summer

The setting is as beautiful as the music. The simple barn sits on 55 acres, along with an old farmhouse that is home to festival director Alan Iglitzin and his wife. Attendees are welcome to arrive early, stroll the grounds and enjoy a picnic. Once the concerts begin, some folks make themselves comfortable in church pews and on hay bales in the barn, while others prefer to remain stretched out comfortably on the lawn. Either way, the music washes over them.

This is an ideal setting to enjoy a glass of Washington State Wine. While on the Olympic Peninsula for the Olympic Music Festival, take time to visit one of seven Washington State Wineries, where you are welcome to sample the wine. Select a few favorite bottles and bring one to the Olympic Music Festival to enjoy prior to the show. Music and wine go marvelously together.

For more information about the Olympic Music Festival, please visit http://www.olympicmusicfestival.org/.

Olympic Peninsula Wine and Lavender

The Sequim Lavender Festival is just days away, and the Olympic Peninsula Wine and Lavender Tour is in progress. Showers today should freshen the farms so the lavender will look its best come Friday July 16, when the Lavender Festival begins. By then, skies will be blue and fields of lavender will dazzle the eyes with green, purple and blue.

But if you just can’t wait until this weekend, don’t. It is summer, after all, the best time to take a few days off work and treat yourself to a little rest and relaxation. Seven Washington wineries on the Olympic Peninsula are pouring hand-crafted wines and ciders as I write; why aren’t you enjoying a taste of it?

Immerse yourself in beautiful lavender fields during the 2010 Sequim Lavender Festival.

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Lavender and Wine on the Olympic Peninsula

Visit the 2010 Olympic Peninsula Lavender Festival and tour seven fine Olympic Peninsula Wineries.

The Sequim Lavender Festival is fast approaching. The 2010 festival runs Friday through Sunday, July 16, 17, 18. Visit seven lavender farms on the Olympic Peninsula, and while you’re out enjoying yourself, visit seven Washington state wineries on the Olympic Peninsula as well.

Olympic Peninsula Wineries are offering a Lavender Celebration Tour of Wineries from Saturday July 10 through July 18. All of our wineries will open from 11am to 5pm daily, and we’ll be pouring new and current releases. For more details, visit our Sequim Lavender Festival Wine Tour page. (more…)

Come to Centrum

Centrum brings incredible artists to Washington’s Olympic Peninsula throughout the year. In summer, the calendar is full of festivals, workshops, and performances.

Tootie Heath at Jazz Port Townsend.

This summer, one amazing event after another keeps people entertained and engaged: Voiceworks, the Festival of Fiddle Tunes, Chamber Music, the Writers’ Conference, Jazz Port Townsend…. On Friday afternoons, folks get comfortable on blankets with picnics and listen to free concerts by some of the finest performers in the nation. The atmosphere is relaxed, with children dancing in the background. It’s wonderful.

Centrum is housed at Fort Worden State Park, in Port Townsend. The sandy beaches, majestic woods, and unbeatable views at Fort Worden are complemented by the historic charm of Port Townsend. When not busy with a workshop or at a concert, lounge on the beach or hike through the woods to scenic overlooks. Wander through the batteries tucked away throughout the park. Or enjoy a fine meal in one of the many restaurants in Port Townsend. (more…)

Port Angeles Concerts on the Pier

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Breathtakingly beautiful Port Angeles, on the Olympic Peninsula

Each summer, visitors and residents of Port Angeles have the wonderful opportunity to listen to live music on the City Pier, with the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Olympic Mountains as backdrop. The 2010 Concert on the Pier Series takes place Wednesday nights between 6pm and 8pm throughout the summer. They are a great excuse to spend a few days on the Olympic Peninsula during the week.

The series starts Wednesday, June 23, with The 8 Second Ride playing country music. It wraps up September 8 with Big Band music by the Sequim City Band. Each week look forward to a different band and a new sound. Country, Jazz, Big Band, Bluegrass and old fashioned Rock & Roll will all be featured. Find the music you like best, drop everything, and head to the Olympic Peninsula.

While here, visit Washington State Wineries and taste Washington State Wines. There are a number of excellent wineries on the Olympic Peninsula, all of which offer wine tasting during the summer. (more…)

Finnriver Crafts Artisan Hard Cider, Wine and Spirits

Our Washington State Wineries Group welcomes Finnriver Farm and Cidery, located twelve miles south of historic Port Townsend in Chimacum’s Center Valley.

Visit the Tasting Room Thursday - Sunday from 1 - 5pm, May through October

Finnriver is dedicated to sustainable agriculture, ecological land stewardship, and enhancing biodiversity. The Kislers, Eric Jorgensen and family, and their partners grow certified organic berries and heirloom apple trees, and also “glean wild apples from old-time local homesteads and source fruit from a fifth generation organic family farm in eastern Washington.” They then craft these fruits into artisan sparkling ciders, dessert wines and spirits. (more…)