American Legion Post 106 Taco Feed Fundraiser

The American Legion, 651 E. Division, will offer a Taco Feed on Saturday, March 14 from 5-7 p.m. Suggested donation is $6. Enjoy Tacos with all the fixings, and coffee, water and/or soda. Come enjoy some good food and good friends!

Music for a Cure Benefit Concert

Vocalist Monica Henry will be singing jazz classics at the annual “Music For A Cure” Leukemia and Lymphoma Society benefit concert hosted by the Forks Elks Lodge, 941 Merchant Rd., on Feb. 29 from 7-9 p.m. Entrance to this “age 21 or older” event is by donation and all proceeds go to the LLS to support cancer research and patient/family assistance!

Family Night

Forks First Baptist Church, 651 S. Forks Ave., is having a Family Game and Finger Food Night on Saturday, March 7, from 3-7 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. Games included will be the new sensation, Wingspan, the Farmer’s Game and many others. Everyone is invited!

Tax-Aide

Tax-Aide volunteers will be at Forks City Hall, in the Council Chambers, 500 East Division St., every-other-Saturday, from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. on the following dates:

Feb. 29 and March 14, 28 and April 11

No appointment is required. First-come, first-served.

For more information about AARP Tax-Aide, including which documents to bring with you, visit the AARP website here or call 1-888-AARPNOW (1-888-227-7669).

AARP Foundation Tax-Aide is offered in conjunction with the IRS.

7th Annual River & Ocean Film Festival

Mark your calendar for the annual River and Ocean Film Festival set for Saturday, March 28, at the Rainforest Arts Center, 35 N. Forks Ave. This event is free and family friendly. Doors open at 6 p.m. and films will run from 7 – 9 p.m. Come enjoy film submissions that celebrate our area waterways and communities in between.

Meditation Virtual

Reality at the Forks Branch Library

Enjoy a guided meditation with virtual reality (VR) at the Forks Branch Library of the North Olympic Library System (NOLS) on Friday, Mar. 13 from 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. Adults and teens 13 and older can experience immersive and interactive 360° video using Oculus Rift and Go headsets. Guided meditation and relaxation sessions will last about 15-20 minutes per user and are on a first-come, first-served basis with a waiting list if needed. Using VR has potential safety concerns; participants must be 13 years or older (no exceptions). Adult participants must sign a release waiver, and participants aged 13-17 must have a parent signed release waiver. Waiver forms are available to pick up in advance at the library, or at www.nols.org/virtual-reality.

World Day of Prayer

The World Day of Prayer is Friday, March 6 at 12:05 p.m. at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, on Blackberry Avenue in Forks. Come share a prayer service written by women of Zimbabwe, followed by tastes of local fare from southern Africa. Sponsored by local church women and The Good Book Foundation.

History Tales takes a look at the history of Peninsula’s media

In this day of shrinking newspapers and accusations against the media for reporting “fake news,” it’s refreshing to take a look back at how the North Olympic Peninsula’s media — primarily newspapers and broadcasting — handled the news.

The North Olympic History Center’s History Tales at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 1, will feature an informative afternoon with three individuals involved in the new book Strait Press: A History of News Media on the North Olympic Peninsula: author Bill Lindstrom, long-time Peninsula newspaper owner and broadcaster Brown Maloney, who commissioned Lindstrom to write the book, and John Brewer, president of the History Center and retired publisher of the Peninsula Daily News.

Following introductory comments from Maloney, Lindstrom and Brewer will join in for a question and answer period on the book that has enjoyed resounding success in the 14 months since it was launched on Jan. 4, 2019. The event is at the First United Methodist Church, 110 E. 7th St., Port Angeles.

Strait Press, penned by Bill Lindstrom, a veteran journalist for more than a half-century (including a two-year stint at the PDN), encompasses nearly 100 media sources on the North Olympic Peninsula, including 82 newspapers, dating to 1860.

Family ownership plays a significant role on the peninsula’s major newspapers as each publication wrestles with controversial issues such as a three-decade struggle to establish Olympic National Park; the proposed Northern Tier Pipeline; the promise of a railroad; the sinking of the western portion of the Hood Canal bridge and numerous elections, resulting in the corpses of newspapers strewn across the peninsula.

The reader will learn the role mastodons and vampires played in peninsula newspapers.

Strait Press not only is about newspapers but radio and even television. The reader will learn about the significance that 25 water heaters played in establishing the peninsula’s first radio station, which broadcaster was still on the air on his 90th birthday and another still broadcasting in 2020 in his 85th year.

Brewer called Strait Press, “A fascinating excavation of underappreciated events and individuals … Historian-sleuth Bill Lindstrom and his painstaking research and his yield of captivating, rescued-from-obscurity stories take us on an educational, thoroughly enjoyable journey.”

Among the nuggets uncovered include two writers nominated for a Pulitzer prize; one receives the award, one does not; one newspaper owner is part of a quad-marriage ceremony; one building has been home to the same paper for 102 years; two writers were known, respectively as “The Rare-bitter” and “Wandering Scribe” and what soon-to-be well-known author spent a night in peninsula jail.

Books will be available for sale and a book-signing will be held at the event.

About the author: Bill Lindstrom, 77, has been a journalist for more than 55 years, before retiring in 2008. Among others, he has worked for the Daily Olympian in Olympia, Wash., Peninsula Daily News in Port Angeles and the Daily World at Aberdeen. In 2015, he was commissioned by Brown M. Maloney to write Strait Press. In 2014, he authored his first book: John Tornow: Villain or Victim? a non-fiction account of a man alleged to have killed his two nephews in 1911.

Strait Press: A History of News Media on the North Olympic Peninsula, is self-published by iUniverse, Bloomington, Ind. It is available in hardcover and softcover through the publisher and at retail outlets. It also is available in e-book format through Kindle and Nook.

For more information, contact the author at bill.lindstrom114@gmail.com or 360-581-9451; or Maloney at brown.m.maloney@gmail.com or 360-457-1450.

Mt. Olympus Lodge

BEEF RAFFLE

Mt. Olympus Lodge #298 is holding a beef raffle. The tickets are $5 each and the winner will be drawn on June 6, 2020 at 7 p.m. at the Lodge on Division St. Proceeds will benefit the Masonic Fund. You do not need to be present to win.

The winner will get:

4 T-Bone Steaks

4 Chuck Eye Steaks

4 Porterhouse Steaks

4 New York Steaks

4 Top Round Steaks

2 Sirloin Steaks

4 Top Sirloin Steaks

2 Cross-Rib Roast

30 lbs. Lean Ground Beef-(Patties or bulk)

Geology Rocks! with Garret Romaine

Author Garret Romaine returns to the North Olympic Library System (NOLS) to discuss rocks, gems, and the geology of Clallam County and the North Olympic Peninsula. Geology Rocks! will be presented at the Forks Branch Library on Friday, March 13 at 6 p.m., and again at the Port Angeles Main Library on Saturday, March 14 at 2 p.m.

Romaine is the Executive Director of the Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals and the author of several geology-related books including Geology Lab for Kids and Modern Rockhounding & Prospecting Handbook. A question and answer period will follow the lectures.

For more information call 360-417-8500, email Discover@nols.org, or visit www.nols.org.

The Forks Branch Library is located at 171 S. Forks Ave. The Port Angeles Main Library is located at 2210 S. Peabody St.

This program is generously supported by the Port Angeles Friends of the Library.