By MICHAEL DASHIELL
The Saturday, March 19 game between the Kitsap Pumas reserves squad and Peninsula United — a kind of Olympic Peninsula all-star squad, including past and present members of the Peninsula College men’s soccer team — is dubbed the “Sequim Soccer Spectacular” and is the first large, public fundraising event aimed at helping efforts to build community playfields on Sequim’s east end.
The event, organized by Sequim Family Advocates, will help fund creation of a 14-acre site of multi-use athletic fields on land just north of Carrie Blake Park.
About three weeks ago, Sequim Family Advocates received a $105,000 donation from the Albert Haller Foundation, putting the group within about $50,000 of fully funding the first phase of the project, known as Sequim Community Playfields.
But, as advocates group board member Colleen Robinson noted, “We’re still not there.”
The playfields project is a quarter-million-dollar effort to give athletes of all ages more open space for youth and adult sports leagues and pickup games, and to give community groups an area for gatherings and events.
The project also includes a 100-space, ADA-accessible parking lot adjacent to the nearby James Center.
Coming together
The event includes a number of community groups lending hands, Robinson said. That includes Boy Scout Troop No. 90 with a flag ceremony, national anthem by Amanda Bacon, Sunrise Rotary members helping sell tickets, a number of food service groups selling meals at a food court, a high school boys-versus-girls soccer challenge and a procession of Puma and United players with members of Sequim Junior Soccer before the game.
“It’s fun getting the whole community involved,” Robinson said.
A silent auction featuring sports-related items only is also on the day’s agenda.
Local merchants join the cause
In addition to the soccer game, Robinson has signed up several businesses to donate a portion of products sold on March 19 to go to the playfields project.
Those businesses with the bright red/orange/blue “Day of Shopping” signs in the windows are participating businesses.
“Not everyone is going to the soccer game,” Robinson said. “They can still support (the cause) by shopping in Sequim.”
For more information, call Robinson at 460-5560 or e-mail crcrir@aol.com.
