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PENINSULA DAILY NEWS ✃ $
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January 3, 2016 | $1.50
Port Angeles-Sequim-West End
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Home prices rising in county
Counting rings and visits
Realtors: Volume up 16.2% in PA BY ROB OLLIKAINEN PENINSULA DAILY NEWS KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Rising home prices and sales volumes show the real estate market is heating up on the North Olympic Peninsula, brokers say. Prices and volumes spiked in both Clallam and Jefferson counties from 2014 to 2015, according to Northwest Multiple Listing Service statistics. “The news is getting better,” said Doc Reiss, president of the Port Angeles Association of Realtors.
Port Angeles In the Port Angeles market, which covers a wide area from McDonald Creek to the West End, the average home price climbed 7.2 percent from $189,479 in 2014 to $203,127 last year. As of Wednesday, 523 homes had been sold in the market compared to 450 in 2014, a gain of 16.2 percent. “We’ve been making progress, but this year [2015] is much stronger,” Reiss said in a Wednesday telephone interview. “Part of it is the fact that the economy is better and people are realizing it.”
Sequim market In the Sequim market from McDonald Creek to Jefferson County, home sales increased from 663 in 2014 to 757 in 2015, a 14.2 percent rise. TURN
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Simone Guimaraes, 9, and her father, Marcos Guimaraes, both of Renton, examine a display of tree rings from a Douglas fir in the Olympic National Park visitor center in Port Angeles.
Olympic National Park on track for attendance record Officials expect 2015 set new annual best, 3.2 million visitors BY ARWYN RICE PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — Olympic National Park officials say the park is on track for a new annual attendance record. They expect final figures, which will be available mid-January, to show the park had more than 3.2 million
visitors in 2015. “It was a great year, but not without some challenges,” said Barb Maynes, spokeswoman for the park. The park was extremely busy, thanks to a warm spring and long, sunny summer, Maynes said. “We know this was a very busy summer. The parking lots were full, sometimes beyond capacity,” she said. As of the end of November, the park had had 3,194,305 recreational visitors (employee and contractor visitations not counted), compared with a November 2014 total of 3,170,284. December totals will not be available until later this month.
In recent years, December attendance has varied from about 65,000 to 100,000. Even if attendance dips to the lower range of December visitation numbers, the park is expected to break the 2014 record attendance of 3,243,869. However, a heavy snowpack on Hurricane Ridge in December, coupled with the park’s ability to open Hurricane Ridge Road each weekend since Thanksgiving, means visitor numbers should be high for the month of December, Maynes said. The Hurricane Ridge parking lot has filled up every day, she said. TURN
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Polar bears make the New Year’s plunge Port Angeles cold dip attracts 150 BY CHRIS MCDANIEL AND CHARLIE BERMANT PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT ANGELES — Jumping into icy water in the height of winter may seem crazy to some, but for many across the North Olympic Peninsula, doing so on New Year’s Day is a way to cleanse the spirit of 2015 and to emerge clean and ready for the days ahead. “You tell every cell in your body that the coming year is going to be really exciting,” said Dan Welden, an organizer of the 28th annual Port Angeles Polar Bear Plunge.
Some 250 people plunged into the new year with a dip in cold water Friday during the four Peninsula plunges.
Port Angeles plunge The Port Angeles plunge drew the most people of any of the four plunges on the Peninsula, with about 150 people charging into the water off Hollywood Beach at 10 a.m. Most ran into the 48-degree water three times, shrieking in delight each time they entered. “This is one of the few times, except when you go to a Seahawks game, where you can
scream and yell and act crazy in public and not get arrested,” Welden said. “You can just let her loose.” Participants began gathering at the beach at about 9 a.m. — building bonfires to stay warm after exiting the water. Then, they lined up on the beach — clothed in attire more appropriate for tropical weather — and charged headlong into the surf. Travis Titterness, 37, of Port Angeles dove in for the full-body experience and swam a few strokes. “I enjoy it. It is invigorating,” KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS he said. “It is a good way to jump- Chris Fowler of Port Angeles, wearing a Viking hat, start the year.” emerges from the chilly waters of Port Angeles Harbor TURN
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PLUNGE/A4 during Friday’s polar bear plunge in honor of the new year.
INSIDE TODAY’S PENINSULA DAILY NEWS 100th year, 2nd issue — 5 sections, 56 pages
BUSINESS/POLITICS A8 B3 CLASSIFIED COMMENTARY A10, A11 C6 COUPLES C7 DEAR ABBY C8, C9 DEATHS A11 LETTERS A3 NATION A2 PENINSULA POLL TV WEEK
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SUNDAY FUN
PUZZLES/GAMES SPORTS WEATHER WORLD
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