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This year the art is back on the walls. The Museum of Northwest Art is holding its 29th auction next week, celebrating regional art, the museum’s 40th birthday and the easing of the COVID-19 pandemic. The physical experience will be integrated with the virtual one. Art enthusiasts can go to MoNA and browse through the art until the “First Forty | Next Forty Art Auction” opens for bidding June 10. Since the museum’s first auction in 1992, it has been a premier regional art event, organiz...
Two short Town meetings last week dealt with long-term plans for the La Conner landscape. An application for a $30,000 planning grant to revitalize the south-end industrial area and major upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant highlighted the Town Council meeting May 25. The Wastewater Advisory Board discussed the treatment plant earlier that day. During the Council public hearing, Town Administrator Scott Thomas and Town Planner Michael Davolio outlined steps for applying for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) to develop a plan...
Good news: La Conner residents will have choices and decisions to make in the November town council elections. All three positions on the ballot are contested. The updated story about candidates filing on page 1 correctly reports that incumbents John Leaver, Bill Stokes and MaryLee Chamberlain are challenged by Ivan Carlson, Rick Dole and Glen Johnson respectively. Likewise, the Fire District 13 commissioner 2 position is between Eric Day and John Doyle, appointed in April. This is what democracy looks like. Each candidate is unique and brings...
OLYMPIA — Following an extremely dry couple of months, the Department of Ecology has issued a drought advisory for most of Washington state, including all areas east of the Cascade Mountains, portions of southwest Washington and the Washington coast. Only the Cascade and Olympic mountain counties around Puget Sound are excluded. March through April was the fourth driest such period for Washington state since 1895. There are growing concerns for farmers and ranchers in Eastern Washington. Early observations of crop stress and expectations...
Dear La Conner community and beyond: Thank you for supporting the Rotary Club of La Conner’s annual tulip sales. The club sold nearly 8,000 bunches of tulips, more than the 2019 total. What a fantastic comeback after 2020, when we were not able to hold this annual spring fundraiser to benefit our community. As is so often the case with Rotary, this was truly a community endeavor. Washington Bulb Company partnered with us for our tulip supply, Thulen Farms provided cold storage for the boxes of blooms, Lafayette delivers and stores our Tulip B...
Trading a multi-generational play field, part of the fabric of our “historical” waterfront community, for a housing development, located next to a busy arterial, is not a good deal! I acknowledge and appreciate the countless hours logged in by the town officials on this complicated issue. However, in my opinion, these efforts were spurious and not in the best interests of the community. Public officials, whether elected or appointed, have a fiduciary responsibility to the citizenry they represent. In other words they are charged with deferring...
Roughly 42% of the wastewater that is processed by the La Conner sewer plant is groundwater. This is called I&I (inflow and infiltration). There is a 95% correlation between rainfall and I&I, meaning that we have a pretty leaky sewer system. Whether it is the sewer mains or the side sewers that service each residence, the system is leaking. The sewer system is 46 years old. It has a right to be leaky. The question is what are we doing about it. For 2020 the Town Council appropriated $50,000 for rehabilitation of the collection system. Not a...
La Conner Chamber of Commerce leaders and members are ready to put 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic in their rearview mirrors. They are hopeful that visitors to town are of the same mind and plan to resume regular road trips to La Conner given the huge impact tourism has on the local economy. Much, of course, depends on vaccination rates and the status of the state’s Roadmap to Recovery plan going forward, but present trends point toward at least a gradual return to normal for the retail sector here, Chamber reps indicated last week. ...
The La Conner High basketball teams took different routes in Coupeville on Thursday to reach the same destination: Victory Lane. The Braves squared their season slate at 3-3 with a dramatic 59-57 NW2B triumph when senior point guard Elijah Porter scored in traffic with just one second to play. The La Conner girls, meanwhile, cruised down Easy Street for their sixth win without a loss, motoring to a convincing 74-15 decision. For the Braves, taking the more difficult road had its rewards in the end. “It was nice for us to execute in a close g...
Going on retreat was the best path forward for La Conner schools officials last week. School board members spent their three-hour retreat May 21 applying the finishing touches to the district’s new strategic plan, a process that has been two years in the making. They worked on next year’s budget and discussed capital improvements and naming two new student reps. That set the stage for formal action at its May 24 meeting. Members unanimously adopted a strategic plan designed to create a learning environment in which the academic and social emo...
Our soldiers fight to protect the nation’s freedom. Journalists report on war so families and the public back home know the facts and truth of the soldiers experience. Journalists tell what is actually happening, as opposed to what the military and the government say. Journalists in wars are protecting democracy – as much as our soldiers. In 1960 no newspaper had women war correspondents. The U.S. military had rules regulating all journalists coverage during war. Since President Johnson refused to declare war in Vietnam, regulations l...
Monday, May 24 5:37 p.m.: Dog running free – Report of a black dog running in the roadway toward La Conner. Deputy checked the area, but was unable to locate it. Chilberg / Best Rds., Greater La Conner. Tuesday, May 25 1:21 a.m.: Shots heard – Caller reported hearing six gunshots in the area of the train tracks near Bayview Edison Rd. Deputies checked the area and did not locate any evidence of a weapon being fired. La Conner Whitney Rd., Greater La Conner. 7:35 a.m.: In ditch – Deputies responded to a report of a car in a...
It has long been said that dogs are man’s best friend. But now there is a new twist to that tale – rather, tail – right here in greater La Conner. Lori Nguyen of the La Conner Pub & Eatery staff recently brought home a baby crossbreed pig as a new pet and it has quickly become a friend to all – mostly to her eight-year-old son, Kao, but also to neighbors, co-workers, the family cats and even deer that meander into Nguyen’s side yard on Pioneer Parkway in Swinomish Village. Nguy...
This is a slightly different variation from the recipe published July 2016 in The La Conner Weekly News. At the final stage of cooking the jam, a foam covers the top, during the full rolling boil. This can be removed by skimming the top with a large broad spoon and savingthe foam in a small bowl. Removing the foam is optional. It is more a matter of aesthetics than necessary. I remove most of the foam per family custom. It is a delicious snack, enjoyed by the spoonful. My mother and I cooked...
Monday was a Memorial Day in the La Conner area that will not soon be forgotten – and not just because of ideal weather. The public was again able to honor sacrifices of deceased veterans with solemn ceremonies at the Pleasant Ridge and Swinomish Tribal Community cemeteries, rituals suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re grateful for the opportunity to gather again,” said Rev. Don Robinson, who officiated a service under warm and sunny skies at Pleasant Ridge, the oldest ce...
