Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper
Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper
Sorted by date Results 83 - 107 of 1887
A Louisiana-style dinner served in La Conner last Thursday boasted a distinctly Skagit Valley flavor. The second annual Genuine Skagit Valley Tidewater Boil at the Port of Skagit's La Conner Marina featured many of the area's favorite farm and sea-based foods and beverages in a setting akin to a Gulf Coast shindig. Held under a large tent on a damp and chilly late September night, the event served as a celebration of Skagit cuisine and formally honored the valley's food producers. The Tidewater...
Tom Beckwith warmed up for the past Monday night public workshop on the south-end revitalization project with a 20-minute presentation at the Sept. 24 Town Council meeting at Maple Hall. Beckwith, hired to craft a blueprint for rezoning and development of the formerly bustling 4-acre industrial area, having shared his insights with the town's planning, parks, arts and emergency management commissions, again stressed that his team will address market potential and feasibility for the area,...
La Conner’s housing crunch is longstanding, but apparently not yet so severe that town officials approve all potential remedies. The town planning staff had recommended denial of a bid by applicant Jason Lindeman to convert part of the Slider’s Cafe building on Morris Street, formerly a full-service fuel station, to long-term residential use before the proposal was to be considered by hearing examiner David Lowell. The applicant subsequently withdrew the application. “Applicants always have the choice whether to continue or rescind an appli...
A traumatic past can give way to a healthy future. That was the hopeful message shared with La Conner students by Swinomish Tribal Community members during annual Orange Shirt Day ceremonies at Landy James Gym Monday afternoon. Orange Shirt Day, which symbolizes truth and reconciliation, honors the experiences and raises awareness of those indigenous children who attended residential schools in North America. Dean Dan Jr., of Swinomish, who keynoted the La Conner program, shared the story of...
Lydia Grossglass went for the hat trick while teammates Angie Pena, Maicy Bowles and Lily Dougliss scored one goal each as the La Conner High School girls’ soccer team improved to 3-1 with a 6-0 shutout win over the 1A Nooksack Valley Junior Varsity at Whittaker Field last Friday. Pena and Bowles got the Braves on the scoreboard with back-to-back goals. Grossglass followed with three consecutive scores and Dougliss found the net in the second half to cap the La Conner offensive onslaught. “The girls had excellent communication,” La Conne...
In an up and down week, the La Conner High School volleyball team finished strong. The Braves (5-4 overall; 1-1 in league) rebounded from a tough 3-0 Sept. 24 home loss to NW2B/1B archrival Coupeville to defeat host Friday Harbor in straight sets last Friday. La Conner captured each set against the Wolverines by double digits, defeating Friday Harbor 25-10, 25-12, 25-13. La Conner head coach Pam Keller received solid contributions from her entire roster at Friday Harbor. Freshman Nora McCormick delivered a team-high 12 kills to go along with...
The Concrete Lions, with two state 11-man football titles to their credit, resembled a finely tuned machine in the eight-man grid ranks Friday night. That machine, unfortunately for the La Conner Braves, turned out to be a steam roller. Concrete rolled to an 80-26 home triumph over La Conner, which was playing just the third game in its inaugural eight-man season. The Braves (1-2) were coming off an impressive 60-0 shutout win over Vashon Island but found the Lions, who snapped a three-game losing streak, to be a different breed of cat in the...
Enthusiasm wasn't squashed at Christianson's Nursery northeast of La Conner Saturday. The opposite was the case. Squash, in the form of giant pumpkins, enthused throngs of people who descended upon Christianson's on a beautiful warm and sun-splashed afternoon the last day of summer. Christianson's Nursery held its annual Skagit Valley Giant Pumpkin Festival, drawing growers and fans alike from throughout the Pacific Northwest. Hundreds of parked cars made for a jam-packed Saturday afternoon,...
La Conner's once bustling but long dormant south end industrial hub is again a center of attention. The Beckwith Consulting Group walked through the area, including the former Moore-Clark property and engaged with the Town of La Conner's advisory commissions in developing a revitalization plan. Residents will also be enlisted to review the scope and objectives of the grant-funded planning project, which runs through December at a Sept. 30 public meeting and through a survey that is on the...
Members of the Washington state Community Economic Revitalization Board launched their whirlwind two-day tour of Skagit County businesses last Wednesday at Mavrik Marine in La Conner. CERB, whose membership includes Island County Commissioner and 10th District State Senate candidate Janet St. Clair, spent an hour visiting Mavrik facilities at the Port of Skagit's La Conner Marina, where the aluminum boat manufacturer is building the third in a series of 137-foot, 325-passenger ferries serving t...
Much has been said the past three decades about the former Moore-Clark property on La Conner's south waterfront. Additional input is still being sought. And this time it promises to carry more weight than ever. Comments on and ideas for the former south end industrial area will be welcomed at a 6-9 p.m. Sept. 30 public workshop at Maple Hall facilitated by consultant Tom Beckwith. "It's designed to get community input on the best possible use of the area," Assistant Planner Ajah Eills said....
Lydia Grossglass and Bailey Smith combined for three first-half goals and the La Conner High School girls' soccer team withstood a late Providence Classical Christian rally to post a 3-2 NW2B/1B triumph at Whittaker Field Friday afternoon. Smith delivered a goal 14 minutes into the contest to give La Conner an early lead. Grossglass then extended the hosts' advantage with two scores before intermission. A senior, Grossglass scored with 7:45 left in the opening half off a free kick by Angie Pena,...
The La Conner School District is making headlines this fall – in a good way. The strides its students have made improving math scores the last two years is the cover story in the current edition of the Washington State School Directors Association quarterly newsmagazine. President Susie Deyo announced at the close of the Sept. 23 board meeting that the district’s success implementing its new K-12 math curricula – along with several other supportive initiatives – is featured in the fall issue of Direct, the WSSDA publication. La Conner element...
They have adjoining desks and confer regularly each day, but Jennifer Herring and Anji Viola, who were hired within three months of each other this year, took far different paths to La Conner's Town Hall. Herring is a native Virginian who earned a bachelor's degree in government and international politics from George Mason University near Washington, D.C., served with the Peace Corps in West Africa, and previously worked as a children's librarian in the San Diego suburb of Coronado, Calif. Viola...
Reporting at the Sept. 10 La Conner Town Council meeting, Sgt. Brad Holmes, the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office La Conner detachment administrator, made a plea to residents and an apology to the council. He addressed concerns voiced at the Aug. 27 council meeting over deputies’ response times to a nighttime burglary and theft incident around North Third Street that month. Holmes said that deputies had arrived in La Conner within 20 minutes of the crimes being reported and immediately began patrolling for the suspect vehicle, which staff learned...
Katryna Barber is closing the book on her latest adventure. After six years as the youth reading specialist, starting at the La Conner Swinomish Library when it bore the name La Conner Regional Library, Barber has announced she is ready for the epilogue stage of a wide-ranging working life. The former teacher, who once served on the library board in Woodstock, N.Y. – the town famous for the 1969 music festival – is retiring at the end of the month. Her last day is Sept. 27. "We will be cel...
Local firefighters who mobilized to battle the massive summerlong blaze in Chelan County near Stehekin had reason to be rattled. A Skagit County Fire District 13 crew on scene twice had rattlesnakes approach their tent. In addition, a bear was spotted in the area where the District 13 firefighters, led by Battalion Chief Jamie Jurdi, were assigned. Jurdi related his team’s three-week stay in the area around Lake Chelan during the District 13 Board of Commissioners meeting Sept. 12. The District 13 firefighters were among those units from t...
The La Conner Braves had extra motivation to defeat Vashon Island in its football season home opener at Whittaker Field Friday night. It wasn’t just because the Braves had suffered a 64-24 loss to Pomeroy in their 2024 eight-man grid debut a week earlier. Returning home, La Conner players were joined on their sideline by celebrated motivational speaker Curt Marsh, the former University of Washington All-American and Los Angeles Raiders Super Bowl champion. He now resides in Shelter Bay. “What I liked a lot about tonight is how you played for...
Coach Maddie Huscher and her staff marveled at how well the La Conner High School girls’ soccer team communicated during preseason workouts a couple weeks ago. Now the La Conner coaches can’t say enough about how well their players are executing attacks in the 2024 campaign’s early going. The Braves opened non-conference action with twin romps in which they scored in double digits against both Muckleshoot Tribal School and Forest Ridge Sacred Heart. La Conner blanked Muckleshoot 11-0 and defeated Forest Ridge 11-2 last week in a pair of impre...
The start of volleyball season was a red-letter day for the La Conner High School volleyball program. The Braves, a perennial 2B state powerhouse, beat visiting Class 1A Blaine in the Sept. 10 season debut for both teams. La Conner, under second year head coach Pam Keller, edged the Borderites in four sets, 25-22, 16-25, 25-22, 26-24, before a supportive home crowd. Freshman Reese Bird was named La Conner’s Player of the Match. She led the way with eight kills, 17 assists, 28 digs, one block and a service ace. Several of her La Conner t...
Much of La Conner’s emergency management commission’s Sept. 3 meeting explored neighborhood mapping – the method for collecting vital information that emergency responders can access when called into residential areas to aid those impacted by flooding, fires, earthquakes or other threats. Neighbors break down barriers and foster increased communication to better prepare themselves to survive emergency situations. Commission chair Jerry George led by example at a Sept. 7 meeting in his North Third Street neighborhood. (see Sept. 11 Weekly News,...
The first day of school in La Conner was in the bag. La Conner Middle and High School students received something new during this year's back-to-school routine. Staff distributed magnetized Yondr bags into which students place and lock their cell phones during the school day. They can unlock the pouches to access phones when school lets out. Yondr marks the start of a project designed to increase academic engagement and eliminate distractions in classrooms. By establishing a cell-phone-free zone...
Jerry George put on his hardhat Sunday and went to work helping neighbors prepare for natural disasters or emergency situations that could strike La Conner. The town's emergency management commission chair joined north end residents at the Matthews North Third Street home for a 75-minute session on neighborhood mapping – the process of establishing a set of steps enhancing emergency preparedness. Leslie Smith led the meeting. She lives on Center Street with her husband, William. Their home w...
Tom Beckwith is the man with a plan that will be finalized by the end of the year. Beckwith’s firm was hired to develop a revitalization plan for the town’s formerly bustling south end industrial area by the Town of La Conner. He intends to draw heavily upon public input, he told the planning commission at its Sept. 3 meeting. Beckwith outlined the process his team will follow this fall. There will be public review sessions and meetings with the town’s advisory commissions and workshops with the town council and planning commission. “We w...
It was great weather for soccer at Whittaker Field last Thursday. Unfortunately, the host La Conner Braves couldn't weather the crisp passing and relentless attacks of Sea-Tac B power Auburn Adventist. The Falcons, coming off a 2023 campaign that saw them qualify for the state playoffs, posted a tidy 3-1 non-league triumph over La Conner before a large crowd that basked in sunshine and warm weather while taking in an often-physical match. Collisions and contact were frequent as players...
