With music from Simon Lynge

Winners to be announced soon! Learn more at the Port Townsend Arts Commission’s Art Award’s webpage: https://cityofpt.us/bc-ac/page/arts-awards

Organized by The Port Townsend Art Commission

Get ready for a sweet showdown! As part of Soundcheck, the Food Co-op is inviting local cooks to put their creativity to the test with one surprise mystery ingredient. This is a dessert-only competition, with dishes prepared in advance and showcased live on Friday night, February 27th at Soundcheck. Guests and judges will sample, savor, and celebrate bold flavors, inventive ideas, and beautiful presentation.

Get all the info and sign up for the Mystery Box Cook-off at: https://www.foodcoop.coop/soundcheck

The Community Pasta Feed with chef Arran Stark and The Kitchen follows the Port Townsend Art Awards with a red sauce pasta dinner for all, including gluten-free and vegan options. $10 suggested donation per adult; no one turned away. Consider bringing cash if you plan to contribute, and check in for dinner at the top of the Art Awards to save time.

        
Organized by The Kitchen, Jefferson County Fairgrounds, and the Food Co-op

In the Round, an all ages dance party! Featured DJs include

Gabrielle Gribbin
Dancer, movement facilitator, DJ and producer of Port Townsend’s “Peninsula Ecstatic” dance – Gabrielle Gribbin invites our inner dance outward – to be felt, expressed, and released. With deep earthy bass setting the foundation for her sets, emotive and momentous soundscapes drive her inspiration while poetic melodies and orchestral tones bring us closer to our hearts. Human emotions are her ultimate muse; she calls upon the power of spoken word and moving lyrics to speak to our humanity and weave a connective experience for all.

DJ LunchLady
Serving Beats Hot, Fresh, and Funky
Don’t let the hairnet fool you—DJ LunchLady is dishing out more than just cafeteria classics. This beat-slinger has been turning tables and turning heads with a flavor-packed mix of throwback jams, guilty pleasures, and bass-heavy bangers that’ll leave your ears begging for seconds.

Mark Hardy is a DJ, producer, and cultural organizer based on the Kitsap Peninsula. He is the founder of As Above, So Below, a local music and arts festival, and is known for creating inclusive, community-focused dance experiences that bring people together through music, movement, and shared space.

Community Mural with Park Avenue Studio

Be part of something colorful, creative, and community‑powered! Join Park Avenue Studio for a hands‑on mural painting event where artists of all ages can help bring a brand‑new public artwork to life. Help create a Community Mural that spans across four 4’x4′ mural panels.

All supplies provided — including child‑safe, water‑based tempera paint
No experience needed — just bring your enthusiasm and community spirit
Come make something awesome with us, where every brushstroke reflects the pride and creativity of the people who call this community home!

Button Bonanza with Danielle Fodor

Make a button pin! What do you want the world to know about you? What weird topic do you wish you had someone to talk about with? What are your wildest hopes for the future, if you’d only let yourself dream them? Whether it’s your pronouns, your aspirations, or your favorite topic of conversation, you can put it on a button pin! Draw and color something to brighten your day — or gift to a friend.

Photobooth Community Collage with the Port Townsend High School AV Club – Details Coming Soon!

And grooves all afternoon from the Nu Crew, a student-run DJ collective based at Port Townsend High School, bringing youthful energy, creative risk-taking, and genre-bending sound to community events across the Olympic Peninsula. Founded in 2024 as a high school club under faculty mentorship, Nu Crew gives students real-world professional experience in music curation, live sound, collaboration, and performance—while encouraging them to develop their own creative voices.

Coming Soon!

Tex Armstrong 1:15-2:00pm

In addition to his own music Tex will be showcasing songs by a few of his local songwriting heros (Aaron Spieldenner, Solomon Kronberg, Blue Hex and Ellie Baird). 

PT Youth Theatre Ensemble, 2:15-3:00pm

Join us for the inaugural performance by our newly created ensemble of youth actors (6th-12th grade). In this interactive Playback Theatre event, audience members will be invited to share true stories then watch them enacted on the spot by the actors using deep listening, improvisation, and theatrical artistry to honor whatever is shared. Come participate actively or simply witness the process!

PT Youth Theatre Ensemble is a joint partnership program between: Port Townsend Youth Theatre, Mandala Center for Change, and PT OCEAN K-12 School.

Leila Block, 3:15-4:00pm

Jazz, Blues and Folk Tunes
covers, originals, stories, shake, rattle, and roll.

Rufina C. Garay and Shattering Glass Poets, 4:15-5:00pm

“The Heart of the Matter presented to Port Townsend in Chambers” by “Shattering Glass” poets including Liz Storm, Zinnia Hansen, Nan Toby Feldman Tyrrell, Brooke Weber, and Logan Henderson. “Quantum pie” reception follows at Velocity Cafe for audience to meet with poets and talk about pie, poetry, or poet-hearted questions.

Boiler Room String Band
Performances for the People’s house musicians will be playing throughout the afternoon. This all-youth string band was formed at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in 2025 . They play traditional tunes, with an emphasis on old time and cajun-french genres. 

Coming Soon!

Doors at 5:00, show at 5:30.

Brother Townsend is the long running project of the band’s songwriter and lead singer, Brett Townsend. The band draws from country, rock, folk and blues traditions to produce an original sound that is unique yet somehow familiar. Heartfelt lyrics combined with virtuoso instrumentals and powerful vocals get folks on their feet, dancing and singing along.

Wizard is an alternative rock band fronted by George Yoder, a local guitar master with strong songwriting chops. The band is passionate about honest artistic expression and committed to keeping the flame of original music alive on the Olympic Peninsula.

Imagine a seasoned funk rhythm section so tight it could cut glass, paired with a young guitar shredder, and a horn section that’s pure fire. Add a sultry vocal powerhouse bursting with original songs, and you’ve got LOWIRE, Port Townsend’s homegrown jazz-infused funk band.

Straight out of Port Townsend High School! Chloroform Rags is a punk band with ska, folk and rock influences. Members Ben Shafer, CJ Fisher, Sol Kennedy and Zeke Banks are a high energy team who will  blow your mind with their original songs and creative covers of classic hits.

Organized by the Port Townsend Original Music Society

See all the deals and specials at: https://enjoypt.com/soundcheck-special-offers/

Coming Soon!

Coming Soon!

All Kinds of Workshops are all-ages friendly and designed for participants to come and go, though some may have particular times for activities to begin over the course of the afternoon.

“Landing Flying Fish”—A Generative Mixed Media Poetry Workshop
Fort Worden Building 305, South Gallery, 11:00am-3:00pm

Join Rufina C. Garay, Port Townsend’s 2026 – 2027 Poet Laureate in a poetry-mixed media collage. We will begin with a brief meditation and then play with words already on the page to used mixed media. You may land some words for a poem in this creative process!

Rufina will dive into one poetic process that she has used and which she describes in her inaugural poem, “Padaba.” She will share two poems from her “Landing Flying Fish” poetic process and explore redactive poetry-art — soon to be featured at the Port Townsend Library. Participants are welcome to choose their practice!

Pop-up Maker Fair
Fort Worden Building 305, North Gallery, 11:00am-3:00pm

Explore the worlds of art + tech, featuring video games, 3D printing, digital art processes, and other wild intersections of traditional and new media.

Free Flow Dance Funk
Fort Worden Building 310, Movement Studio, 11:00am-3:00pm

Join this fun escape into free-flow dance funk. Embrace funky beats as you learn to isolate different body parts, creating dynamic and quirky shapes with your movements, including writing the alphabet with your body. Immerse yourself in a dance experience that celebrates being in community as well as individuality and the spirit of letting go.

Collage/Zine Time with Northwind Art
Fort Worden Building 306, 11:00am-3:00pm

Come make a collage, a zine, or a flyer. All art materials provided.

Film Pop-up with Port Townsend Film Festival
A selection of short films curated by PTFF. Films will play in rotation from 11:00am-3:00pm
Fort Worden Building 305, Classroom

Counterweight
From walls that open with the turn of a wheel to entire buildings that glide along tracks, this short documentary explores a celebrated architectural firm known for kinetic design, structures that respond to human touch and adapt to evolving needs. At the heart of these innovations is a unique creative partnership between architect and engineer, driven by analog problem-solving, experimentation, and deep trust. With archival insight and present-day perspective, the film traces a decades-long design legacy that blends tactile ingenuity with thoughtful form, bridging past and future, art and mechanics, structure and soul.

Erwin
In his small PNW town, Erwin is something of a local legend, known for his charm and willingness to talk to anybody. In addition to his conversation, this 71-year-old has been catching waves longer than most folks have been walking. This short portrait reveals the unexpected joy and passionate relationship between a man and the sea.

Managed to Extinction
In the PNW, an orca scientist and an Indigenous leader join forces to confront a shared crisis: the intertwined decline of the region’s Southern Resident orcas and the Chinook salmon they depend on. Blending traditional ecological knowledge with modern science, this compelling short asks a crucial question – can collaboration across cultures help prevent the loss of the Northwest’s most iconic species?

Old Girl in a Tutu: Susan Rennie Disrupts Art History
A gallery showcase of Susan Rennie’s delightful art with unfiltered commentary from the artist, as well as words from the exhibition curator. When Rennie retired from academia, she returned to her first love – photography. With humor and wit, her photographic interventions offer a feminist critique of the conventional canon of art history, and an unabashed embrace of her elder, queer identity. The results are juicy, eye-opening, and often hilarious.

A Fateful Weekend
As news of Kennedy’s assassination unfolds, a seven-year-old boy tries to make sense of the grief blanketing his family and the world beyond. With only a vague understanding of who “the President” is, he observes the somber mood of his mother and grandparents. Yet life doesn’t stop entirely; his little brother’s sixth birthday arrives the next day. A tender glimpse of joy and loss colliding in one unforgettable weekend.

Fairground
In the summer of 1999, a girl returns to her county fair, determined to win her third Grand Champion title, upholding her family’s legacy. As competition pressure mounts, the suffocating weight of familial expectations begins stifling her identity. Struggling to connect with her parents, she ventures into the forbidden midway, discovering a vibrant world of independence where an unexpected connection challenges her family’s ideals. Navigating the fine line between duty and desire, she must confront what it truly means to find herself, and decide if winning is worth losing who she really is.

Rainshadow Recording Studio Open House
Fort Worden Building 315, 11:00am-3:00pm

Come tour a professional recording studio at Rainshadow Recording. As the premier recording studio on the Olympic Peninsula, Rainshadow Recording offers a world class recording facility with a fully restored 1979 QUAD Eight Coronado console at its heart, an extensive list of outboard gear, vintage microphones and a 1971 7’ Steinway B grand piano. Chief engineer, Conor Sisk, will talk about the recording process and expect some live performances!