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The candidates in La Conner's only contested 2023 election shared their views and personal backgrounds at a Skagit County League of Women Voters forum in Mount Vernon Monday night. John Agen, elected director in District 1 in 2019, is the La Conner school board's legislative liaison. Janie Beasley served a decade on the five-member governing body until 2019. Each shared prepared statements and answered a set of questions. Candidates for seats on the Sedro-Woolley and Mount Vernon school boards p...
The Oct. 10 La Conner Town Council meeting was full of comings and goings. Council will meet jointly with the planning commission Nov. 28 to hear a presentation from representatives specializing in paid parking systems. “This will give you information on what some of the options are,” Planning Director Michael Davolio told them Planning Commissioners John Leaver and Bruce Bradburn have spoken to two companies. They reported to the commission, noting Leavenworth and Bellingham have committed to paid parking. Town Emergency Management Com...
Since money doesn’t grow on trees, Town officials and the La Conner Chamber of Commerce hoped reversing the process might pay off in support of a civic beautification campaign. Alas, grants written to plant trees on Morris Street and remove trees and related cleanup work at Pioneer Park were not funded, so no money to repair the iconic salmon slide at Conner Waterfront Park, either. Chamber director Mark Hulst and Parks Commission Chair Ollie Iversen vowed last week to try again despite the competitive nature of applications. “We’ll conti...
The La Conner High School Lady Braves brought their ‘A’ game to the soccer pitch Saturday. Actually, they brought their better than ‘A’ game. Lydia Grossglass took a well-placed pass from Kendall Lee to break a scoreless tie and forge a thrilling 1-0 La Conner non-league triumph at 1A Sultan, taking the sting out of twin 5-0 setbacks earlier in the week to Friday Harbor and at North Mason. “I’m so proud of the team for performing at such a high level with back-to-back-to-back away games,” Lady Braves coach Maddie Huscher said after her cha...
When Port of Skagit officials unveiled preliminary plans last year for long-range re-development at La Conner Marina, workforce housing was a key variable for future investment. Port leadership emphasized that its maritime tenants are engaged in growth industries and will better expand their labor forces to meet market demands when more local housing is available. Consider American Tugs, on Pearle Jensen Way, a boatbuilding firm whose top-of-the-line pleasure craft feature rugged hulls like...
Ted Taylor is fondly dubbed “Captain Catastrophe” because of his persistent calls for local emergency preparedness. But the Skagit County Fire District 13 captain and emergency management coordinator might more accurately be called a realist. That is especially true this week after the magnitude 4.3 earthquake centered south of Port Townsend that struck Sunday night and was felt in La Conner households and other locales throughout Western Washington. Numerous La Conner area residents reported that the quake rattled furniture, some likening it...
The eyes of Olympia were on La Conner Schools last week focusing on the district's innovative approach to assessing student learning. And state leaders visiting the local campus liked what they saw. State Sen. Lisa Wellman, chair of its early learning and K-12 education committee and Alissa Muller, director of the state board of education's mastery-based learning collaborative, met with students and staff here Oct. 4 to view and receive feedback on the La Conner district's mastery-based...
Emergency management is more than a hot current topic. It will have great significance in the future as well. Which is why Skagit County Fire District 13 Capt. Ted Taylor is proposing that local schools consider teaching their students important community emergency response skills. Taylor floated the idea during the fire district’s 90-minute monthly meeting at the Snee-Oosh Road station Oct. 5. He reported on a well-received presentation he gave in September as the district’s emergency management coordinator on preparedness for natural dis...
The status of short-term rentals in La Conner tops the agenda of a special 6 p.m. Oct. 17 public forum at the La Conner Civic Garden Club. “It will be a specific and targeted meeting,” Town Assistant Planner Ajah Eills said at the planning commission’s meeting Oct. 3 in Maple Hall. The meeting addressing short-term rentals will not be hybrid since there is no WiFi service at the Second Street building. “We think it will be more of a conversational setting,” Eills said. “We’re hoping for a more intimate conversation.” The question of whe...
The traffic volume in town last weekend teased that it was the height of tourist season. That wasn't the case, of course.. But it was a peak weekend in terms of La Conner High School's fall sports schedule. The football and volleyball teams played simultaneously on campus Saturday afternoon, less than 24 hours after the Braves' boys soccer team hosted league rival Mount Vernon Christian. Results were mixed. The La Conner grid program broke into the win column with a convincing 30-0 shutout win...
As a youth whose World War II veteran father was a booking agent in the entertainment industry, Ramon Hayes grew up familiar with the celebrities who gained fame amid the emerging new world of television. "I was invited to Liberace's birthday party," Hayes, 54, recently recalled with a chuckle. "I didn't attend." Hayes was perhaps reflecting on how later in life as a long-serving public official, he would be called upon to make decisions of far greater importance. "I like to think of myself as...
Southern hospitality La Conner-style was on the menu at the La Conner Marina Friday night. A sold-out crowd enjoyed favorite dishes from farm and sea during the inaugural Skagit Tidewater Boil fundraiser for Genuine Skagit Valley, the organization established in 2013 to recognize the area's unique agricultural heritage. Literally taking a page from the Gulf Coast's famed southern crab boils, with prawns, spicy sausage, sweet corn, red potatoes and Dungeness crab dumped onto the two dozen tables...
Town Emergency Management Commission chair Bill Stokes spoke glowingly last week of how fast La Conner's public works department has acquired and made ready for use a variety of flood barriers ahead of peak king tide season. "Things are moving quickly, as quick as I've seen anything move around here," Stokes, a former town council member, told commission members during their Sept. 26 hybrid meeting at Maple Hall. Within days of receiving council approval, pre-filled sandbags and Ecology Blocks...
Money talks. But last week it was Town officials who did the talking – about money, it turns out. Town Council members kicked off the 2024 budget season with a special 5 p.m. Sept. 26 hybrid meeting at Maple Hall. Public works director Brian Lease and Fire Chief/Code Enforcement Officer Aaron Reinstra presented their budgets. Council is addressing two rare anticipated line-item shortfalls: the streets and facilities funds. Delaying purchase of additional speed cushions like those in use on Talbott and Center streets could reduce the streets b...
Orange is a color that has long linked the La Conner and Swinomish communities, perhaps never more so than now, 66 years after the Rainbow Bridge was built. That was much in evidence Friday afternoon when La Conner students, most wearing bright orange shirts bearing the phrase "Every Child Matters," gathered at Whittaker Field to pay homage to victims and survivors of the Indian Residential School era. Superintendent Will Nelson, a member of the Blackfeet Nation, said the annual fall event...
It's often said in sports that the best defense is a good offense. For the youthful La Conner High School volleyball team, which carries three eighth graders – Nora McCormick, Abi Poulton and Reese Bird – on its nine-player roster, the opposite is the case. The Lady Braves, adjusting to heavy graduation losses from its state championship net program, have transitioned this fall from a power hitting team to relying on solid defense and crisp passing. They worked that new approach to good eff...
The La Conner High School boys’ soccer team defeated Grace Academy 3-1 Friday at home for the Braves’ second straight triumph, improving to 2-3 on the campaign going into a big match with NW2B/1B power Mount Vernon Christian Friday, Oct. 6. Coach Galen McKnight’s charges will look to square their season ledger when they host the Hurricanes in a 4 p.m. start. MVC sports a 6-2-1 mark entering this week’s play, having most recently tied St. Georges of Spokane 2-2, blanked Friday Harbor 1-0 and dropped a tough 1-0 decision to Orcas Island. Hurrica...
Over 3,000 greater La Conner residents were without power for several hours Sept. 26 following a vehicle collision north of town. The areas affected by the outage was southern Fidalgo Island east across the La Conner Flats to Pleasant Ridge and the North Fork Skagit River bridge and along McLean Road to Best Road. According to the Safely HQ community health platform, electrical service was interrupted when a motor vehicle crash occurred near the intersection of McLean and La Conner-Whitney roads around 1:40 p.m. Outages were reported on Fir...
There has been extended debate in town over pending new construction of a multi-unit residential building in a commercial zone. The focal point for that dialogue is the "Talmon Project" at 306 Center Street. In a coincidental twist, Town of La Conner Planning Commissioners and staff were asked last week about the status of a longtime commercial building in a residential zone. The former COA restaurant at the corner of Maple Avenue and Washington Street – perhaps better known as the 'new Joe's D...
No amount of rain was going to dampen spirits at the Skagit County Fire District 13 Open House Saturday. That is because the event’s guest of honor, retired fire district commissioner and former Shelter Bay resident Larry Kibbee, has long been admired for his sunny disposition. Kibbee served six years on the fire district’s governing panel prior to moving to Bothell. He returned to the Snee Oosh Road station for the formal dedication of a new residential building that bears his name. “I would...
The wheels are turning – first gradually, than rapidly – as Town of La Conner officials continue work on updating the transportation element of its comprehensive plan. “I’ve been working on this element for several months,” Director of Planning Michael Davolio told planning commissioners at their 90-minute Sept. 19 hybrid meeting at Maple Hall, “and one of the surprising things I’ve learned is that there is enough parking on South First Street to accommodate all the (residential and commercial) uses there. “But,” he cautioned, “it do...
Town leaders hope to spruce up La Conner’s appearance with the planting of new trees along Morris Street. The La Conner Chamber of Commerce and Town Parks Commission are teaming up on a grant application for placing street sensitive trees plus hanging baskets and updated banners to further beautify the town. “The trees will be placed into existing holes with a containment to keep the roots from streets and sidewalks,” parks commission chair Ollie Iverson said in his official report of the panel’s Sept. 13 hybrid meeting at Maple Hall. Iverson...
The La Conner High School boys’ soccer team was on point against Crosspoint Saturday. The Braves (1-3) earned their first victory of 2023 with a convincing 5-0 home shutout of non-conference foe Crosspoint Academy, a traditional soccer power from Bremerton and a SeaTac 2B entry. Lane Tenborg paced the winners by scoring twice and assisting on La Conner’s other three goals. Braves’ head coach Galen McKnight described Tenborg’s play as “brilliant.” McKnight also praised Corran Eisen, who broke a scoreless tie with the lone first half goal of the...
The new-look La Conner High School volleyball team, sporting a revamped lineup following heavy graduation losses from last year’s state 2B championship roster, has not lost sight of the immediate task at hand. Which is to collect as many NW2B/1B match triumphs as possible. So far, the Lady Braves (2-4 overall) have checked that box. The team, which dropped early non-league contests with 1A Meridian and Lynden Christian, 1B Neah Bay and 4A Glacier Peak, has won the match that counts most – a straight-sets sweep of conference rival Concrete Sep...
The La Conner High School girls’ soccer team could not find the net at Auburn Adventist Thursday afternoon.On that score, the Lady Braves are in good company. Auburn Adventist has won four matches this fall by shutout. That is why they sit atop SeaTac 2B League standings, The Lady Falcons added NW2B/1B member La Conner to the list, recording a 3-0 non-league triumph, despite several outstanding individual performances cited by first-year coach Maddie Huscher. Huscher praised striker Izzy Villard, right wing Kailey Carlson, right back Aisley Z...
