By SCOTT D. JOHNSTON

The Ocean Shores Convention Center was dark over the holidays, but the lights come back on early in the new year with some semi-new faces and a completely new event leading a parade of returning favorites.

Three new Ocean Shores City Council members will be sworn in at the first regular Council meeting of the year, at 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 8. Robert Crumpacker returns to the Council, having been elected in 2007 then defeated in 2011. Steve Ensley, who retired in 2016 after five years as city finance director, and local Planning Commission member Susan Conniry, join the Council for the first time.

The following weekend, Jan. 13 and 14, the Convention Center welcomes a new event that promises to be unlike anything ever held there. The “Urban Unglued Dark and Gothic Market” will be open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday with free admission. Puyallup resident Sherrie Vineyard said her Glitterpants Productions company “will be bringing all the best gothic and dark art, monster themed items, costumes, horror and more to the beach,” with about 50 vendors.

She explained that she has been producing bazaar-type retailing events that feature unique, handcrafted merchandise, for a year in the Tacoma area. She has also been involved in “A Pirate’s Life For Us,” which takes place annually in Ocean Shores, Jan. 12 through 15 this time around. She thinks quite a lot of the dark art items offered at some of her events will appeal to modern-day pretend pirates, so she jumped at the chance to bring an event to the beach to coincide with Pirate’s Life. More information on the Urban Unglued event can be found on the Glitterpants Productions Facebook page.

The 9th annual Roanoke Conference brings hundreds of Washington state Republican party activists and enthusiasts and some nationally known conservative voices to Ocean Shores Jan. 27-29. The gathering has grown to over 600 attending and has become a “can’t miss” event for state GOP leaders.

The Ocean Shores Renewed Antique Show opens with a ticketed premiere from 5:30 to 7:30 Friday night, Feb. 16, that will feature live music and refreshments with an old-fashioned bar menu. The main event is Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 17 and 18. This is the third year Dianne Hansen, “The Event Planner,” has produced the show. She said the show and its experts and vendors are looking to offer not just antiques and collectibles, but are working with many aspects of the concept of blending. “It’s not just antiques, but a new world of blending old and new,” she said. The show will offer all kinds of fundamentals, do’s and don’ts, and wild and crazy ideas for recycling, repurposing and upcycling all kinds of things.

Event Planner Hansen also leads the next big weekend happening, the 31st annual Beachcombers’ Fun Fair, on Saturday and Sunday, March 3 and 4. She said one perspective on this event is that it offers opportunities “to explore and learn why we love living at the beach, and some of what it takes to live here.” The event typically features an all-star roster of speakers, and Hansen said this year will be no exception, with some exceptional new voices, and many old favorites, including event co-founder Alan Rammer. More information on both of Hansen’s events can be found online at www.oseventplanner.com

The 12th Annual Razor Clam Festival will be produced by the Ocean Shores/North Beach Chamber of Commerce. Plans call for a high-end fund-raising dinner and auction Friday evening, March 16, and a one-day festival celebrating all things razor clam on Saturday, March 17.

On Saturday, April 7, the Ocean Shores Food Bank will have its third annual fund-raising dinner and auction, “Rockin’ the Shores,” with the classic rock and dance band Raucous, from Seattle. The event includes a silent auction, a catered dinner, a live auction, and live music and dancing. Seating is limited to 400, and the event sold out two weeks in advance last year. Tickets will be available only at the Visitors Information Center in the west side of the Convention Center, and will go on sale in early January.

Other events scheduled at the OSCC in 2018 include:

• April 14, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation’s Twin Harbors Big Game Banquet is a fund-raising event for the local chapter of this national non-profit conservation group. More information is available at www.rmef.org/Washington/TwinHarbors.

• April 27-29, Fine Arts, Photography and 3D Show is both the longest-running and most volunteer-intensive annual event on the North Coast. Produced by Associated Arts of Ocean Shores since the early 1970s, the event utilizes a small army of volunteers to transform the venue into a temporary art gallery displaying more than 500 original works. It includes artists in action all weekend and is free to the public.

• May 25-27, 12th Annual Grays Harbor Home Show & Expo fills the Convention Center with a multifaceted event which includes home show, art exhibit, chainsaw carving competition on both wood and ice, hotrod/classic car show and Memorial Weekend ceremonies, and vendors galore.

• June 9, Flag Day Parade runs south down Pt. Brown, through the roundabout and past reviewing stands in front of the Convention Center.

• June 22-24, Sand and Sawdust Festival combines a huge chainsaw carving event that takes over the Convention Center and its parking lot, with the serious fun of a sand-sculpting competition on the beach at the Chance a la Mer approach. The event is produced this year by the Ocean Shores/North Beach Chamber of Commerce.

• July 20-22, Big Top Gun Show, more information at www.bigtoppromos.com.

July 27-29, Bikers at the Beach sees the entire area catch motorcycle fever each year with a vast variety of event content. More information is available online at www.bikersatthebeach.com.

• Aug. 17-19, 12s Fan Fest and Beach Party is a huge preseason lovefest for the Seattle Seahawks pro football team. The event is based at the Convention Center but pretty much takes over the whole town. More information is at www.12sfanfest.com.

• Aug. 31-Sept. 2, AAOS Arts & Crafts Festival features one-of-a-kind hand-crafted items from area artisans. Proceeds benefit the local artists’ non-profit.

• Sept. 21-23, Whale of a Quilt Show will celebrate its Silver Anniversary with the 25th annual edition of this unique event.

• Oct. 12-14, Society for Creative Anachronism, a non-profit educational society dedicated to the recreation of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, will stage a “Kingdom Feast for suitors of Elizabeth I.”

• Oct. 16-21, 15th Annual Celtic Music Festival. The event has grown into a sprawling, complex and iconic undertaking that brings over 100 musicians and thousands of fans to the North Coast. Information is at www.galwaybayirishpub.com.

• Oct. 31, Ocean Shores Firefighters Association’s Halloween Party is a much-loved tradition that fills the Convention Center each year with a free party for kids that replaces trick-or-treating in Ocean Shores.

• Nov. 3, PAWS Dinner and Auction benefits North Beach PAWS, the area’s no-kill animal shelter.

• Nov. 16, OS Firefighters Turkey Bingo is a popular fund-raiser that will move up to the Convention Center’s “big room” this year after an overflow crowd in 2017.

• Nov. 23-25, Winter Fanta-Sea is a Thanksgiving weekend event in its 30th year. The guiding principle and reason for its success is that nothing is factory-produced, and everything is in some way hand-made and unique.

• Dec. 15, Kiwanis North Beach Kids Christmas Party is the annual, free holiday event for area children ages 12 and under.