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Nothing in life is perfect, but the annual July Fourth Parade in La Conner Tuesday came close. The weather, which more than once has been wet and chilly here on Independence Day – hence, the local adage that summer starts on July 5 – was sunny and warm for an eclectic blend of patriotic-clad entrants and spectators lining the length of First Street for the 20-minute celebration. So good was the parade honoring America’s 247th birthday and formal separation from Great Britain that those resid... Full story
The Fourth of July parade in La Conner always has something for everyone and often makes memories to last a lifetime. Yet few have had as much of a blast at the downtown summer serpentine as the popular "Kazookie" duo of Felicia Value and Gem Tartaglia, who recently bid farewell – reluctantly, of course – to La Conner and are now creating positive notes in the Portland area where they have family and friends of longstanding. Regular parade-goers fondly recall Value and Tartaglia playing pat... Full story
La Conner School Board President Susie Deyo called the panel’s annual six-hour retreat last Wednesday an opportunity for reflection. It was also a time to look ahead. And while the view going forward can be murky at best, board members and school officials – like their peers in districts across the state – anticipate seeing an upcoming academic year fraught with tough fiscal challenges. Finance Director David Cram, just four months into his second tour with the district, outlined a proposed budget designed to salvage a $110,000 fund balance in...
Give peace a chance was a popular refrain coined in 1969 by John Lennon. Now, La Conner’s Ollie Iversen has put a new spin on Lennon’s famous anthem of the anti-war movement. Iverson’s version is “Give Pisces a Chance.” Pisces is the zodiac sign symbolized by fish. La Conner Waterfront Park is noted for its fish slide sculpture created by the late artist and salmon advocate Tom Jay. In an impassioned plea to the La Conner Town Council at its June 27 hybrid meeting at Maple Hall, Iversen convinced the panel to reverse its earlier decision...
The La Conner Emergency Management Commission is wading through short-term options to mitigate flood threats on the La Conner waterfront and in low-lying residential neighborhoods, embracing a multi-tiered plan of attack ahead of next winter’s king tides. The Town is in contact with the Upper Skagit Tribe to secure permission for placement of flood barriers on its south-end property between Caledonia and Sherman streets. A walking tour led by Public Works Director Brian Lease to strategize barrier placements on La Conner’s north end, has bee...
June was another dry month in an increasingly dry year, with a total of 0.7 inches of rain. The half inch of rain June 9-10 was two-thirds of the month’s total. The other 0.24 inches of rain came June 18-20. Rainfall has been below average every month in 2023. Precipitation measured at Washington State University’s Memorial Highway Mount Vernon station is 9.3 inches for the year. That is 7.1 inches, 43.4%, below the January-June century average of 16.4 inches. This was the fourth driest June this century and one of seven times less than an inc...
Greg Ellis sees big things ahead for La Conner by going small. The Shelter Bay resident and Braves Club after-school program volunteer, who submitted plans for seven full-sized homes behind Pioneer Market in 2021, now proposes constructing tiny condos there. “I want to do the best thing I can for the community,” Ellis told the La Conner Planning Commission during their 90-minute June 20 hybrid meeting at Maple Hall. “There’s such a shortage of affordable housing here, especially for a workforce.” Ellis is revamping his plans for lots he has ow...
America’s national bird may stump part of a tree-thinning project at Pioneer Park. The Town of La Conner has been advised by an urban forestry services consultant that more than 40 trees in the park, a popular trail hiking and public events venue – including the annual Pioneer Picnic – have structural defects or are in decline, posing potential isolated hazards. A large winter windstorm during the COVID-19 pandemic uprooted a handful of trees in the park, some of which crashed onto the roof of its historic sheltered community kitchen build...
Yesterday was July 4th, the 247th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence from Great Britain, the colonies splitting from the most powerful country on the planet. Read again the Declaration of Independence. Start at the beginning. What did the colonies declare? First, it was a “unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America.” Second, it was a statement from “one people.” Third, they held “these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain u... Full story
It is a strange business with an odd purpose, newspaper publishing. It is a business and earns its profits by selling the interest and purchasing power of its readers to advertisers. It attracts its readers with the news of the day, but that is more than just the facts that pop up in town. Reporting does start with, for example, news of water line breaks, whether on Channel Drive or Reservation Road. But that is the start of the story, both for staff and what appears on the page. Journalism occurs when the editor and staff analyze underlying...
Music, what’s it to you, does it shiver your timbers, does it cause you to snap your fingers and tap your toes or make you breathe more easily through your nose? Certainly, one person’s music is another person’s noise, yet even in rip tearing rap, can be found a soft slap. Yeah, in righteous rock and roll can be found smooth harmonics and rad riffs and then there’s the country twang, the nasty slide guitar, harmonica, sax, drums and bass, they all can bring smiles to my face. Heck, I even enjoy karaoke, again, more as a listener, than partici...
Just 20 years ago, a kilowatt of new photovoltaic solar panel electric generation capacity cost more than a hundred times as much as a new kilowatt of natural gas capacity (although the difference was less significant with ongoing fuel costs for the gas plant factored in). General Motors’ EV1 in 1996 completely failed to bring electric cars back. Technology doesn’t stand still. Today, solar and wind energy are usually the least expensive sources of new generation. Electric vehicles are clo...
The La Conner Town Council will hold a special meeting 5 p.m. July 11 to prepare for a six hour retreat July 24. That starts the creation of a preliminary SWOT analysis BERK Consulting will use to shape the retreat, Town Administrator Scott Thomas said Monday. The goal of council and staff will be to develop a five-year strategic plan by the end of the year. BERK staff will take the discussion summary and combine it with the surveys residents have submitted all spring and with summaries from the meetings council’s ad hoc communications c...
Lori Buher retired in June after 27 years with La Conner Schools and even longer as a La Conner School parent. Her long career can be divided into three chapters. In Chapter 1, she joined the La Conner Co-op Preschool when Eric and Anne enrolled in 1987, serving until 1992. By 1989, she was also on the board of the La Conner Elementary PTA. Soon she was helping lead the school’s Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts. “It was a lot of fun, and I had great support from other parents, but I was def... Full story
Retired La Conner High School championship volleyball coach Suzanne Marble has netted some impressive awards including induction into the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Hall of Fame and national coach of the year recognition. One more honor awaits this summer. Marble will be feted at the annual Skagit County Pioneer Association Picnic in La Conner Aug. 3 as the organization’s 2023 Pioneer Spirit Award winner. The Pioneer Picnic, held annually on the first Thursday in August, has been a La Conner summer tradition for more t...
While budget woes have gotten much attention at La Conner Schools lately, those concerns were balanced by a long list of district celebrations cited at the school board’s summer retreat last Wednesday. Second-year superintendent Will Nelson cited key achievements realized during 2022-2023. He noted that the district piloted a secondary level mastery-based learning program, saw middle school science instructor Maddie Huscher named regional teacher of the year, began implementing the research-based Universal Design for Learning framework that a...
The Skagit River Poetry Foundation held its third annual auction June 24 at Hillcrest Park Lodge in Mount Vernon. One hundred and twenty five supporters gathered to raise funds for their mission of cultivating literacy and changing lives through the power of poetry. It was indeed midsummer. The theme was Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The whole place sparkled and shimmered with fairy dust as the decor, those who wore costumes and auction items imbued the evening. As guests arrived, they were greeted by volunteers, then had many ch... 
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Matika Wilbur will visit Seaport Books from noon to 4 p.m. Thursday, July 6, to discuss and sign her book, “Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America.” She is back from a national tour....
In his many roles as an educator, lawmaker, state official and in private business, the late Duane Berentson was hailed as a team player. And family man. The well-documented devotion to service and consensus building that defined him has been a blueprint for others in the Benson/Berentson lineage. The family will be honored at the 119th annual Pioneer Picnic in La Conner Aug. 3 as the Skagit County Pioneer Association Family of the Year. For three decades a key figure in Olympia, Duane...
Red currants are in season and friends are harvesting their red currant bushes. What better way to prolong the delicious richness of flavor, than making jelly. They remind me of the wild high bush cranberries that I picked in Alaska. They are full of seeds and I choose to to use a hand-crank food mill. The result was perfect. I also took care not to overcook to prevent the pectin from setting too soon. I cooked with the berries on the stem, for the first part of cooking. I took great care to...
Looking through Gilkey Square at 3:20 p.m. Saturday, it seemed a boat was on fire. Tourists and locals gathering at the boardwalk railing saw a brush – more properly, a grass – fire just west of the west side Swinomish Channel shoreline. Fire District 13 duty officers submitted this summary: “Battalion 13 and Brush 1314 (were) dispatched to a 30 foot by 30 foot brush fire on Front Street. Batt 13 arrived on scene to find Swinomish PD and civilians trying to contain the fire. B13 gave short...
Sunday, June 25 10:29 a.m.: What noise? – Report of subjects playing loud music outside, disrupting the neighborhood. Deputies did not hear anything. Beaver Marsh Rd., Greater La Conner. 10:29 a.m.: What truck? – Report of a stolen truck from the street in front of the residence. Caller stated the truck had been there the night before and was now gone. Described as a spare vehicle that the keys were left in and the windows were most likely down. Vehicle was signed stolen and has not been recovered. Road. St, La Conner. 7:4 p.m.: Closer loo...
What a week! We have been so busy for the past few weeks I did not think we could be busier, but the 4th has set a new high water mark. We had to turn away dozens of reservation requests for G dock and the RV park because every foot of the dock is spoken for. We even stashed a couple of smaller boats on the flat just to ease congestion and fit everyone in – literally as busy as it can be. This weekend and through the holiday we are averaging about 30 boats per night on the guest docks and 40 RVs...
