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THIS BIRD HAS ITS OWN LIGHT – La Conner artist Maggie Wilder poses with her handmade barn owl luminary before the Illuminight parade in Mount Vernon last Friday, Jan. 27. The first Illuminight parade since 2019 attracted a crowd of enthusiasts with a wide variety of homemade luminaria....
Math has been a top priority for La Conner Schools, with the district adopting new K-12 curricula designed to engage students and improve standardized test scores. Students, teachers, parents and community members now want the same emphasis given to the arts. Concerned that likely spending cuts, primarily linked to declining student enrollment, could lead to reduced learning opportunities in music, drama and related subjects, supporters of arts education urged the school board Jan. 23 to spare those programs. Several pleas were emotional. La...
On a cold, wet January night, the La Conner Town Council embraced a sunny outlook. The panel last Tuesday approved payment for a $100 membership fee and joined the Skagit Valley Clean Energy Co-Operative, organizer of the new Solarize Skagit program, whose goal is to make it easy and cost-effective to install solar panels. The commitment includes providing Co-op and program information on the Town website and perhaps monthly water bills. Solarize Skagit is the main initiative of the co-op, which incorporated last year in La Conner. Its...
A fire in a 50 ft. cabin cruiser on a rack at Latitude Marine Services south of La Conner Thursday afternoon was readily extinguished by crews from Fire District 13, with assistance from multiple area fire departments. Assistant Fire Chief Jami Jurdi arrived first to the 12:42 p.m. call, in Engine 1321 from Station 2, Snee Oosh. Fire Chief Wood Weiss came from La Conner. Weiss reported “flames burst out from a cabin window” as his crew was suiting up. They then “began hitting the fire from the outside.” There was concern of “the high exposure...
What do you get when you combine one of the most successful food coops in the state donating $100,000 to probably the most successful farm incubator organizations in the nation? A guaranteed and growing food supply to co-op customers and discerning shoppers throughout the Skagit Valley and beyond. On Jan. 26 some 400 co-op members and farmers filled Mount Vernon 's Lincoln Theatre to celebrate the partnership between the Skagit Valley Food Co-op and Viva Farms. The evening started with local...
What a beautiful clear, crisp blue sky day we had Sunday. Monday started sunny. February is here: there are more hours of sunlight and the sun is higher in the sky and starting its march northward. And, we live in a state with sane legislators reflecting the majority of people's concerns. More laws restricting firearms may soon be passed in the legislature. Can't this newspaper's editor leave that topic alone? No. Five Februarys after the Parkland, Florida high school murders, six years after the Las Vegas concert massacre, close to three...
King tides, like pesky mosquitoes, occasionally discomfort those that are having a picnic in paradise. Water runs downhill, right into the lowest places around, saturating the ground, drowning earthworms and roots, making us humans frown, as we put on our boots. Yeah, a few of us have lived in the lowlands for all of our lives and have never seen a wave of water lapping at the door. Unfortunately, I have. November of 1990 was the month and year when Fir Island was filled by a failed levee. Yeah, the Skagit River can be a wild thing, all the...
Here in the 10th District and throughout the state, we face challenges that affect all our families, including: • A shortage of housing. • Lack of access to healthcare. • Businesses who can't find skilled workers. The last point is key: a shortage of workers. That is the common thread to each of those problems. We can't make significant progress on improving ferry reliability, housing affordability, healthcare outcomes or the economy without addressing shortages of workers in those field...
Suppose you were filling your car with gas, and the pump behind you suddenly changed the price from $4 a gallon to $400 a gallon. You’d get an unpleasant surprise when you put the nozzle back on the hook and saw how much you owed. Electric prices can go up 100-fold during an unexpected shortage, as they did in Texas in 2021. Price spikes of this magnitude are fairly common in the electric market (although usually much shorter-lived than they were in Texas), because heat waves, cold snaps and u...
There won’t be a Town flood commission, after all. Instead the new five-member municipal panel will be tasked with an expanded portfolio to address multiple emergency management and natural disaster incidents. The change in scope came at the request of Town Administrator Scott Thomas at the La Conner Town Council Jan. 24 hybrid meeting. “When I got into the weeds of this,” Thomas explained, “it became clear that there are a number of emergencies that the Town should be prepared for – not just floods. An emergency management commission seemed to...
Betty May Jackman Wilson left La Conner, Washington for her next adventure on her 95th birthday, Sept. 23, 2022. She was born at home in Dayton, Oregon in 1927 to May and Walter Jackman. Her family moved to McMinnville so she could attend school. They lived in the Methodist parsonage until her father built them a house (hand digging out the basement at night after work). Betty loved music and was always singing; she sang in the school choir, played in the band and also played piano. Later she...
Charles "Chuck" Chris Clausen 4/5/1940 – 1/12/2023 Charles "Chuck" Chris Clausen succumbed, on Jan. 12, 2023, to a five-year battle with fibrosis. He married Patricia Eisen on March 23, 1963 in Seattle, Washington. Chuck graduated from the University of Washington in 1965, with a B.A. in mechanical engineering. He went right to work at Boeing and was there for 30 years. Chuck then went to work for B/E Aerospace of Marysville for 10 years. He was a member of Thousand Trails, a camping club. He a...
The trail between the beach at the Anacortes Ferry Terminal and the Ship Harbor Interpretive Preserve is closed indefinitely. Recent king tides and winter storms destroyed the boardwalk and dramatically changed the fragile wetland, which the public is being asked to stay out of. Visit the Washington State Ferries Facebook page for updates and information about the Anacortes Ferry Terminal. Source: Washington State Ferries...
Join poet Jeffrey Morgan and paper artist Nancy Scagliotti to create love poems and valentines 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday in Mount Vernon. Fee of $10 includes supplies. Families welcome. Register: [email protected]. Sponsor: Skagit River Poetry Festival...
La Conner Schools served up a dinner menu that included food for thought during the district's winter open house last Wednesday. As the over 200 attendees finished a community ham-and-potato meal served by school staff, the district's administrative team outlined the status of on-going programs and its recipe for student success and achievement going forward. Superintendent Will Nelson, hired in 2021, shared with the public the building blocks of a major five-year plan: social-emotional...
After losing last second heartbreakers to Coupeville and Orcas Island, the La Conner Braves flipped the script and won a hard-fought 58-54 non-conference hoops battle with Tulalip Heritage at Landy James Gym Saturday night. Ivory Damien scored a game-high 23 points and Braden Thomas added 21 to assure a happy ending for the Braves and their fans. But Tulalip provided plenty of drama before the curtain fell. The Hawks, trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half. They pulled to within...
After being eclipsed by one of the state's budding shooting stars, the La Conner High School Lady Braves brightened their prospects for a deep post-season run with a stellar 81-77 win at 4A Skyview in Vancouver, WA. Saturday afternoon. La Conner (13-4 overall) rebounded from a 79-54 setback Friday night to 4A Union High and its freshman phenom Brooklynn Haywood, who at 14 already has scholarship offers. Haywood poured in a Union school record 50 points – including seven three-pointers and a p...
As a popular song says, there are few ways better to gain fame than to have your picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone. A La Conner singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist may not be on the iconic magazine’s cover, but she is featured on its digital pages as an artist readers need to know. Locally and regionally, Katherine Paul, the face of Black Belt Eagle Scout, needs no introductions. Her brand is now getting plenty of national exposure, thanks to a glowing profile penned for rollingstone.com by Philadelphia-based writer, editor a...
By Lynne Beebe Tips to consider before starting a practice of cold water swimming I am far from being an expert on cold water swimming, but have learned much from my experiences over the past three years and from reading studies and stories about cold water swimming around the world and throughout history. Here is some of what I’ve learned and some helpful resources if you want more information. Safety Without guidance, I had already felt that the best way to enter the cold Salish Sea was slowly and with intention, breathing deeply and c...
Are you in a winter reading rut? The library has just the solution for you: Stretch your reading muscles by checking out our Winter Reads Bingo. There are bingo squares for everything from cookbooks – what better way to find a new comfort food recipe – to audiobooks, to romance to true crime. This reading challenge has something for everyone. Read five books to get a bingo and get a coupon for a treat at either Stompin' Grounds or Beaver Tales Coffee. Read 25 books to get a blackout and get ent...
Some 70 poetry lovers overflowed the main room of Pelican Bay Books in Anacortes Saturday night to enjoy two hours of poetry. Organized by Skagit Valley poets Georgia Johnson and Michael Daley, these events will continue every last Saturday of the month through May, with several more during poetry month in April. Johnson read a new batch of poems and poet Roberto Ascalon, New York born, lately from Seattle, emceed and performed in his sometimes slam style poetry.The evening celebrated two Skagit River Poetry Foundation Student Poet Laureates...
Dine and shop to end homelessness Feb. 9 in Anacortes. Visit participating restaurants and retailers and a portion of the proceeds from your meal or purchase will be donated to the Anacortes Family Center. A list of participating businesses is at anacortesfamily.org. Volunteers will be on-site to answer questions, provide opportunities for you to donate and to sell raffle tickets. Raffle prizes total over $10,000. For questions or to purchase raffle tickets, please call Heather at 360-293-2993 ext. 114 or email [email protected]....
Participate or watch the kayakers and rowers race down the Swinomish Channel for the annual Sound Rowers La Conner Race Saturday, Feb. 4, 9:45 a.m. Paddlers start at the La Conner boat launch. Registration, entry fees and the course map can be found at soundrowers.org. Source: Sound Rowers...
You may not find the smaller Brussel sprouts at the local grocer. You may find them in a CSA box. These were from Boldly Grown Farms winter CSA box. I prepared them for a family meal when my sister, Mary Jane Kellar, was recently visiting from Arkansas. We all enjoyed them as tiny morsels of goodness. Ingredients Baby Brussel sprouts, 1 pound Miniature bell pepper, 1 sliced Balsamic vinaigrette dressing, 3 tbsp Parchment paper, to fit a baking sheet Preparation Rinse and cut each end of the...
BEADING IS ART – An Indigenous beading workshop was taught by Eva Paul at MoNA on Saturday, Jan. 28. Thirty participants learned to bead earrings in conjunction with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls: Honoring Our Stolen Sisters exhibit. Browse the exhibit before it closes Feb. 5....
