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Longtime matriarch of La Conner, Linda Freed, passed on New Year’s Day 2019. She started the now famous Calico Cupboard restaurants back in 1981 at the south end of First Street, where the sea and the soil meet. She expanded her famous ‘foodery’ to include one in Anacortes and Mount Vernon. She later created Seeds Bistro in the Tillinghast building. My wife and I sold produce to her, back in the nineties, after she bought Longfellow Café in Mount Vernon, turning it into yet another successful Calico Cupboard enterprise. She was a class a...
Tiny Bubbles was a big hit for singer Don Ho in the 1960s. But his feel-good signature tune was about tiny bubbles in wine, not water, as was the case for some La Conner-Whitney Road residents when their homes were recently connected to a new water main between Young Road and McLean/Downey roads. Short of turning water into wine, the issue was addressed last week by flushing lines to rid them of the air bubbles that can cause tap water to appear cloudy, said Town Public Works Director Brian...
In the La Conner Town Council’s and administration’s modest way, they held their first 2019 meeting without mentioning that the town’s 2018 fiscal year ended with general fund revenues for 2018 totaling 97 percent of projected income. Sales tax income was almost four percent above projections, 3.67 percent, $17,565 to the good. Hotel/Motel receipts were $24,520, 19.3 percent above projections. Property taxes came in 2.5 percent high, at $7,621 and the fire truck sales tax income was $1,955, 4.25 percent above projections. Income from sewer...
On a glorious crisp, clear day along the upper Skagit River, Lucy DeGrace from the Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group presented a well-attended talk about why “Habitat Restoration Is About Way More Than Salmon.” An attentive group of 30 Eagle Festival attendees listened as DeGrace explained the importance of protecting habitat within the Skagit River – and all – watersheds. There are 14 regional fisheries enhancement groups championing habitat wherever salmon spawn. They are vol...
Parents, this article is for you. Nudge your La Conner high school students into entering the Kiwanis of La Conner essay contest. The history of La Conner is the topic. The March burial of the 50-year time capsule at the Skagit County Historical Museum is the impetus. Entries will be read again in 2068, perhaps by their grandchildren, at the celebration of the museum’s centennial. The goals of the contest are to encourage students to learn about La Conner history and to provide an opportunity for students with an interest in history and w...
With “Proclamation for Janna Gage” on the Town Council’s agenda last Tuesday, it wasn’t a surprise, just richly deserved. Mayor Ramon Hayes made the presentation, first reading a short list summarizing a few of her contributions to the town, including 15 years as volunteer director of its senior center. Gage came to the Council table and, like the historian she is, gave a brief analysis. In summarizing the town’s social richness, she gave partial credit to the strong ongoing participa...
Heather Carter, La Conner Chamber of Commerce director, has worked hard to establish a new migration pattern: a last Saturday in January Birding Showcase event in Maple Hall. Carter has a full day and full slate of vendors set for Jan. 26. She is hoping for a repeat of the full hall for last year’s keynote talk. Dr. Kaeli Swift, this year’s speaker, starts at 4 pm. Her research at the University of Washington is studying the foraging behaviors of Canada jays in Denali National Park. She studies corvids: crows, ravens, jays and magpies. Car...
Harbinger. Great word, that. It is a signaling by one thing – eight days of sunshine – of the approach of another: possibly a year of little rain. We start the third week of the new year with mild, bright blue-sky sunny weather. It might rain the rest of this week and on into next but precipitation to date, at 0.79 inches, is well below the 4.13 inches January average for this century. And the forecast, another projection, is not our friend. The models predict a winter that is warmer and dryer than normal. They do not show 3.5...
The entire country, every citizen, has been forced to confront national politics. This issue’s front-page government shutdown counter has flipped to 26 from last week’s 19. The paper is prepared to place day 33 on next week’s front page. That is not our choice. It is reporting the facts. Next week an article will look at the shutdown’s effects on the school district, the Swinomish Tribe and Skagit County, and local institutions with federal contacts. Maybe you have flown recently or plan to...
Linda was born in Vancouver Washington to Alvina and Kenneth Mansigh. She went to WSU where she met Rod, her husband of 48 years and graduated with a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management. In 1970 Linda was married and in 1971 her daughter Hilary was born. While her husband Rod served as a Navy pilot, Linda spent time raising her daughter, working in restaurants, and becoming very successful in real estate. After settling in LaConner, Linda decided to put her degree and passion for cooking to use and opened the LaConner Calico Cupboard in...
