Wes Sorstokke kicked off his golden years with a gold medal. The owner of the Snoqualmie Falls Candy Factory isn’t ready to retire anytime soon, but when he turned 55 last year, he qualified the barbershop quartet he sings with for the Barbershop Harmony Society International Seniors Quartet Contest. They won, beating out 25 other quartets from the United States, Canada and Australia at the Jan. 26 competition in Albuquerque, N.M.

“It was fantastic,” Sorstokke said. “It was just a real fun experience.”

Sorstokke lives in Carnation and is next-door neighbors with the group’s tenor, Dan Tangarone, a retired environmental engineer.

Both men have sung barbershop music for decades and had successes with their previous quartets, but it wasn’t until 2001 that they formed Friendly Advice with bass Forrest LaMotte of Federal Way and baritone Bill Thurmon of Bellevue. Sorstokke sings lead.

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