On Sunday afternoon — despite some wildfire smoke blowing across the Olympic Peninsula — director Tyler Benedict and fellow Sequim City Band members were drawing some anticipatory breaths.

The community band on Sept. 10 celebrated the groundbreaking of their Rehearsal Hall expansion with dignitaries and representatives of Neeley Construction, following the group’s performance in collaboration with KSQM 91.5 FM’s “Music in the Bark” event.

“It’s been a long two years of fundraising,” Benedict reminded the band. “And we’re not done, as you know.”

Most of the expansion project’s estimated $1.409 million building price tag has been raised, band representatives said, but there remains about $350,000 left to fundraise to “fill the gap.”

Said Benedict on Sunday, “We’ve got one more big push to go.”

Sequim City Band members previously said the practice hall, built in 2005, could comfortably accommodate about 35 people, but they have as many as 70 players now and other groups use the space, including the Sequim Community Orchestra and Strings Kids Music Education Program.

Expansion of the rehearsal space was amplified in early 2020, when COVID restrictions forced band members to abandon thoughts of trying to play in its current space.

“There was no way we could play in this room with the safety protocols in place,” Benedict said Sunday, noting the date — Feb. 27, 2020 — was the last time the band was able to host an indoor rehearsal there.

Fundraising began in earnest in about June of 2020, and since then the group has raised about $1 million — 45 percent from state grants and others, and about 22 percent from band members themselves.

On hand Sunday was State Rep. Steve Tharinger, chair of House Capital Budget Committee.

The expansion, band representatives said, will enlarge the hall at Carrie Blake Community Park (and adjacent to The James Center for Performing Arts) to nearly 2,500 square feet that will accommodate up to 75 musicians, add another bathroom, improve acoustics, lighting, a heating/ventilation system and keep the band’s music collection and instrument storage in the current space.

Band representatives signed the construction contract with Neeley Construction on Sept. 9, the day before the groundbreaking.

Eli Collier, a superintendent with Neeley Construction, said Sunday that the firm is awaiting final sign-off from the city and that fencing should go up at the site late this week.

“It’s about a five-month project,” Collier said, with finishing touches coming at the end of February 2023.

The current capital campaign, band representatives said, is for the building structure itself. A second phase of fundraising will include further interior modifications for sound control, equipping the IT/recording booth, updating chairs and updating storage for the music library that includes more than 1,300 pieces of sheet music.

The Sequim City Band has rehearsals from 7-9 p.m. on Wednesdays at Dungeness Valley Lutheran Church, 925 N. Sequim Ave. Upcoming concerts include Saturday, Oct. 29, and a traditional holiday concert on Sunday, Dec. 18, both at the Sequim High School auditorium, 533 N. Sequim Ave.

Donations to the Sequim City Band, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, can be made at sequimcityband.org under the “Rehearsal Hall Expansion” tab, or mailed to: PO Box 1745, Sequim WA 98382; designate “Rehearsal Hall Expansion” or “Building Fund” to direct a donation specifically to the project.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell Sequim City Band president Debbi Soderstrom lauds efforts by band members to raise funds for the Rehearsal Hall expansion project during a groundbreaking ceremony on Sept. 10.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell Sequim City Band president Debbi Soderstrom lauds efforts by band members to raise funds for the Rehearsal Hall expansion project during a groundbreaking ceremony on Sept. 10.