Community Briefs

Local homelessness topic of League meeting

The League of Women Voters of Mason County host “Housing Hurdles: Challenges in Housing the Poor and Homeless of Mason County” with guest speaker Colleen Carmichael, executive director of Quixote Communities, from noon to 1:30 p.m. March 19 in the Olympic College Shelton library meeting room, 937 Alpine Way, Shelton. Everyone is welcome. Information: email [email protected].

Ride historic train to visit Easter bunny

Simpson Railroad hosts its Easter Bunny Special from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 23, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 24 at 10138 W. Shelton Matlock Road, 10 miles west of downtown Shelton.

The event includes a train ride, a hunt for Easter eggs, face painting and the opportunity to meet the Easter bunny. Tickets for people older than 2 are $15. For more information, go to http://www.simpsonrailroad.org.

Everyone welcome at Peninsula Art Association meeting

The Peninsula Art Association hosts its monthly meeting at 1 p.m. today at the Shelton Civic Center.

Slides taken from both the National Mosaic Conference and the Tiffany Glass Museum will be shown.

The group has signed up 35 members so far, and they are able to enter the “members only” art show June 3-7 at the Shelton Civic Center. Last year, 85 pieces were showcased.

Everyone is welcome to attend the meetings, where members show examples of their art.

Seafood, auction items at Pioneer fundraiser dinner

Youths of the Pioneer School District and Mason County will benefit from the Pioneer Kiwanis Foundation’s annual seafood and dinner and auction March 23 at Pioneer Elementary School.

The doors open at 4 p.m., with the silent auction items ready for bidding. The dinner starts at 4:30 p.m. and the live auction begins at 6 p.m. The meal includes clams, shrimp, spaghetti and coleslaw. Tickets are $35 for adults and $15 for children ages 3 to 12; children 2 and younger are admitted for free. For tickets, call Sherry at 360-229-0673. For more information, call Pamela Harrell at 360-490-0954.

The auction is the group’s largest fundraiser of the year. The group is seeking donors and sponsors, who will receive recognition in the auction materials and will be named in a “thank you” ad in the Journal. Sponsors will also receive recognition during the auction and in the live auction catalog.

Harstine talk on Washington museum oddities

Harriet Baskas talks about “Weird, Wonderful and Worrisome Objects in Washington State’s Museums” at 2 p.m. March 24 at the Harstine Island Community Hall, 3371 E. Harstine Island Road N.

The Seattle author of nine books, Baskas says most museums display no more than 10% of their holdings, and she uncovers some of the stuff from the museum’s back rooms: a Spokane institution that holds Bing Crosby’s toupees and a museum in Lynden that’s home to a 150-year-old pickle.

The Inquiring Minds series is presented by the Harstine Island Community Club and Humanities Washington.

Des Moines resident and screenwriter Steve Edmiston spotlights “UFO Northwest: How Washington State Spawned Men in Black” at 2 p.m. April 28.

Edmiston will talk about an incident on Aug. 1, 1947, when the crash of a B-52 bomber in the Puget Sound area triggered an FBI investigation of “The Maury Island Incident,” a famous UFO sighting and history’s first alleged encounter with the so-called “Men in Black.”

The FBI’s records from 1947, which were sealed for decades, reveal Cold War fears, jurisdictional disputes, cover-ups, false confessions, a courageous FBI special agent and the hands-on involvement of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.