Exact match

One hundred and fifty-one years ago today, the captain of the schooner Exact brought the 24-member Denny party in the pouring rain to what is now Alki Beach. That early colony was the start of the city of Seattle.

Today, a scale model of the Exact will be dedicated during a 4:30 p.m. ceremony at the Maritime Heritage Center, which is the old Naval Reserve Building at South Lake Union Park.

Joining in the dedication will be descendants of the original Denny party members, Duwamish tribe representatives and local historian Paul Dorpat. Sponsors are the Maritime Heritage Foundation, Discovery Modelers Education Center and West Seattle's Log House Museum.

Today

• Ten recipients of this year's Washington State Book Awards will be honored in a public ceremony at 7:30 p.m. at the Frye Art Museum, 704 Terry Ave., on Seattle's First Hill. The ceremony in the auditorium will be followed by a reception and book-signing. For 36 years, the Washington State Book Award, formerly known as the Governor's Writers Award, has honored books published by Washington authors during the previous calendar year.

• A post-election forum hosted by the Evergreen chapter of the American Society for Public Administration is scheduled for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Schaffer Auditorium of Seattle University's Lemieux Library on SU's First Hill campus.

Tomorrow

• WHEEL, the Women's Housing, Equality and Enhancement League, a grass-roots organizing effort of homeless and formerly homeless women, will hold its eighth annual homeless women's forum at noon in the downtown Arctic Building's dome room at 700 Third Ave.

New in the city

Two Native American totem poles crafted by museum curator-emeritus Bill Holm are being added today to the Burke Museum's permanent outdoor gallery of Northwest Coast monumental sculpture on the University of Washington campus. The poles, replicas of poles that stood on the Northwest Coast in the early part of the 20th century, will be dedicated at a special ceremony at 1:30 p.m. Saturday as part of the museum's weekend Native American Arts Celebration. The museum is at Northeast 45th Street and 17th Avenue Northeast.

Traffic watch

• Traffic across the Hood Canal Bridge will be reduced to single-lane alternating travel today and tomorrow, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. during maintenance work on the bridge's aging east drawspan. The project is the first in a series of steps to improve the operation of the east-half draw.

Can you help?

The downtown Seattle YMCA is looking for volunteers for fall and winter programs. Volunteer opportunities include group exercise instructor for a variety of classes from power cycling to hip-hop aerobics, membership desk representatives, support campaigners, fitness-floor trainers and sports assistants. For information, call Sandra at 206-382-5015.

Today in history

1926: Seattle's YMCA and the National Aeronautics Association staged the Pacific Northwest's first air regatta at the Naval Air Reserve Station at Sand Point. A highlight of the afternoon event was competition between Army and Navy trainer aircraft from Sand Point to Renton, then through Kirkland and back to Sand Point. (HistoryLink.org)

Here & Now is compiled by Seattle Times staff reporter Charles E. Brown and news assistant Suesan Whitney. To submit an item, e-mail herenow@seattletimes.com or call 206-464-2226.