FreddyPink and the Peninsula Trails Coalition are staging a fundraising dance and silent auction on Saturday, Oct. 17, with proceeds helping to connect the Larry Scott Trail with the Olympic Discovery Trail.

"This benefit will support activities all along the entire trail," said Jeff Selby, Jefferson County vice president of Peninsula Trails Coalition (PTC), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports the Olympic Discovery Trail (ODT).

"We don't own it. We just help to maintain it," Selby said of the trail.

The long-term goal is a nonmotorized, multi-user transportation and recreation corridor stretching across the North Olympic Peninsula, from Port Townsend Bay to the Pacific Ocean.

"The vision is 130 miles of off-road trail between Port Townsend and La Push," said Selby. "We're about 60 to 70 percent complete."

Gordon Yancey, lead vocalist for the Seattle-based rock and soul band FreddyPink, lives in Port Townsend.

"I ride the trail every day," he said. "I love it."

The trail extends 7.5 miles, mostly along former railroad right-of-way, from the waterfront at the Port Townsend Boat Haven to the intersection of Old Discovery Road and Adelma Beach Road.

Yancey said he wanted to help the trails project, and decided to bring his band to Port Townsend for a benefit dance at McCurdy Pavilion, much like he did some years ago as a fundraiser to keep Jefferson County Memorial Athletic Field open. He contacted Selby, and they put together the dance and silent auction.

It's a family-friendly event, 5-10 p.m. The dance is catered by Jasper's Barbecue (which has served at FreddyPink concert sites before, Yancey noted), and adult beverages are to be sold. Admission is by a suggested $20 donation.

A silent auction at the event is to offer more than 100 choices of goods and services donated to benefit the cause. Silent auction items include accommodations in Cabo San Lucas, gift certificates for local restaurants, a biplane ride, and a drink a day for a year from Ground to Perfection Espresso, valued at more than $2,300.

The 10-piece FreddyPink band brings more than just its danceable rock ’n’ roll and soul to McCurdy Pavilion, where a 60-foot dance floor is expected to be in use. Yancey also has secured assistance from audio engineer Curt Hare of Point Source Audio, who does the sound for most of the national acts that play in Seattle. Hare is bringing a $350,000 line-array public-address system to improve the acoustics in McCurdy Pavilion for the show, Yancey noted.

Ted Krysinski of Port Townsend is donating his services to do the lighting. "He was a Hollywood grip and lighting guy," Yancey said, and is "doing a huge favor. It's the real deal."

WHAT PTC DOES

Proceeds from Peninsula Trails Coalition fundraisers and membership dues, Selby said, go toward "lunches for volunteers on trail work parties, tools for maintenance work and, occasionally, materials." More than 100 people volunteer to build and maintain ODT trails, Selby said. He added, "[Jefferson] County does a great job over here. They do the mowing."

PTC also helps fund trail-improvement projects carried out by government and other entities; it provided matching funds for a tunnel that provides a safe segment of trail along Lake Crescent, and recently built a bike ramp for a bridge over the Dungeness River, improving bike access for part of the ODT in Sequim.

PTC organizes fun run/walk events to benefit the ODT, including the Longest Day of Trails in June, a New Year's Day run and the 5K Turkey Trot, set for Saturday, Nov. 21, starting on the trail in PT. Runs are organized by PTC board member Jeni Little of Port Townsend, who also directs the annual Rhody Run.

Three big local supporters of PTC are the Henery family of Henery Hardware, Jefferson Healthcare and Port Townsend Paper Corp.

GAP IN THE TRAIL

The Larry Scott Trail now ends at Milo Curry Road, a quarter-mile from the new Jefferson Transit Center at Four Corners, which built aprons into its driveways in anticipation of a trail connection.

Building that quarter-mile of trail to connect the Larry Scott Trail with Four Corners has been in Jefferson County's Transportation Improvement Plan for years, Selby said.

"The next critical piece we're going to be working on," Selby said, "is to get [from] the Milo Curry trailhead ... all the way down to the tip of [Discovery] Bay."

The Discovery Bay East segment of the trail would go from Four Corners to the head of Discovery Bay, about 6.2 miles. Without a trail, people on foot or bicycle must now travel along State Route 20, which has a 45-mph speed limit and no shoulder for 2 miles as it passes Eaglemount.

In order for the Discovery Bay East Trail to be included in Jefferson County's 2016-2021 Transportation Improvement Plan,"the PTC needs help in finding funding to finance a planning study," Selby said.

"We want to get a study done to make sure it gets on the plan, because that's the only way we can get grant money for the eventual design and construction," Selby said.

PTC has asked area landowners and stakeholders – including the City of Port Townsend, Pope Resources, the Washington Department of Transportation, Washington State Parks, Port Townsend Paper Corp. and the Washington State Patrol (WSP) – to write letters to Jefferson County Public Works in support of the Discovery Bay East route, and they have.

WSP Sgt. John Ryan wrote, "I wholeheartedly support the study and development of such a trail," noting that troopers have observed "cars, logging trucks, loaded chip trucks, motorhomes, trucks with trailers, etc., trying to navigate SR 20 over Eaglemount while dealing with bicyclers and hikers and oncoming traffic.... I know firsthand how dangerous it is ... we encourage inclusion of a feasibility study of a recreational trail alternative in the County's TIP."

Ten possible trail routes, plus many variations, have been identified and mapped by "a gung-ho volunteer" for the PTC, Selby said. "Almost all of them are difficult, from a topological standpoint, but still viable," he added.

DISCOVERY BAY SOUTH

Much of the ODT is built on an abandoned railroad line known as the Milwaukee Road, connecting industrial activities on the Olympic Peninsula between 1889 and 1916. The last train traffic between Port Angeles and Port Townsend occurred in 1984.

Railroad grade provides a flat, stable foundation and gentle, bicycle-friendly grading. PTC intended to use the Milwaukee Road for its trails wherever possible, but environmental concerns complicated the matter at Discovery Bay.

In 1914, the Milwaukee Road was built on a trestle across the broad mudflats at the southern tip of Discovery Bay, using creosoted pilings and fill dirt to span the estuary, which blocked the annual spawning runs of chum and steelhead salmon. Recent environmental recovery efforts spearheaded by the North Olympic Salmon Coalition (NOSC) involved collaboration with four state agencies and many more project partners to plan and execute restoration of salmon creeks and to clean up the old sawmill site, removing concrete footings, contaminated soils, riprap, oily bulkheads and creosoted timbers.

PTC had hoped to build trail across that old trestle, but worked with NOSC to plan an alternate route skirting the shore of the estuary, and NOSC incorporated the trail work into its environmental work's permitting process. As a result, construction of a half-mile of trail is to begin in spring 2016, in conjunction with shoreline restoration work at the tip of Discovery Bay. That segment connects to the ODT at the west side of Discovery Bay, where the trail follows Old Gardiner Road.

When NOSC agreed to work with PTC on the trail at the tip of Discovery Bay, PTC had to come up with funding for trail design quickly, Selby said. It staged a fundraiser at a private home, and within six to eight weeks collected the required amount of $45,000, he said. "This was a tremendous testimony to the local support of the ODT."

PEOPLED PATH

Existing segments of the ODT, such as the Larry Scott Trail, are well used, and provide a safe and peaceful alternative to walking or biking along busy roads. Often seen are moms with strollers, pals out for a walk, birdwatchers, dog walkers, horse riders and bicyclists.

The trails also attract tourists, and a completed trail would be "beneficial for commerce in the area," Yancey said. Because of the money that bicyclists spend on meals and hotel rooms, some call them "wallets on wheels."

"It puts heads in beds," Selby said.

Trails can raise the assessed value of nearby homes, according to a study, cited in the PTC's letter to the county by the National Association of Realtors.

"When this trail is complete (the Eaglemount section), Port Townsend becomes the gateway, milepost 0.0, to what will be a 130-mile trail," Yancey said. "It will be a destination."

For more information, visit

PeninsulaTrailsCoalition.org.