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The La Conner High girls’ basketball team earned an A for effort in its close home loss to Burlington-Edison last Tuesday, June 8. The Lady Braves received an A for results when they soundly defeated Lynden in another highly anticipated non-league hoop matchup, again at Landy James Gym two nights later. Together, the hard-fought, highly competitive games proved that 2B La Conner could more than hold its own against top 2A foes from the vaunted Northwest Conference. Burlington-Edison (7-3) e...
High school and college graduates always look sharp this time of year in their caps and gowns. But for true style points, it is hard to beat La Conner’s Swinomish high school graduates, who were decked out in colorful blankets, traditional cedar hats and eagle feathers for special pre-commencement ceremonies at Swadabs Landing Park last Wednesday. There was plenty of substance, too. Prayer warriors and Swinomish senators provided congratulations and words of encouragement to the community’s 202...
Family members of the La Conner High School graduating class of 2021 will attend this year’s graduation ceremonies Friday at 5 p.m in the football stadium. Teachers and staff will be there, but few others. Attendance is limited to keep people safe from the last vestiges of the coronavirus, not quite wrung out of our community or society at large. The 54 teens – the largest graduating class in years – will graduate together, sitting shoulder to shoulder, throwing their hats in the air en masse, getting to hug and kiss each other, a...
Thursday La Conner High School’s seniors paraded and were feted from the time La Conner’s iconic 1941 Ford white firetruck and accompany Hook & Ladder Department vehicle fleet left the schoolgrounds parking lot to the end of the parade, bookended with another firetruck, at the Town’s Maple Hall. Seniors waved from car moonroofs, backs of pick up trucks,trailers and, of course, convertibles. A variety of classic cars, from vintage corvettes to old mustangs, were joined by Fire District 13 fire...
Local history will be shared well into the future thanks to a La Conner student’s research. Rachel Cram, a La Conner high junior, is scripting audio recordings that with the press of a finger on a smartphone will provide anecdotal details about some of the town’s more historic downtown buildings. Cram will present her project, which places optical sign labels on buildings, at the June 15 Town Planning Commission meeting. Each QR code contains building specific historical information. Town Pla...
It usually is not a good sign when a basketball team has just one defensive rebound in the first quarter and only 14 for the game. But that was not the case for the unbeaten La Conner High girls’ basketball team Saturday at Landy James Gym. The Lady Braves played such good defense against NW2B rival Friday Harbor that the visitors turned the ball over repeatedly and rarely got good shots at the hoop. Thus, there were not rebounds off the defensive glass to be grabbed. La Conner (9-0) remained a...
A La Conner High School student group was to have taken a science field trip to the beach last Tuesday on what would have been a perfect warm and sunny outing. But, as has been the case for more than a year, COVID-19 protocols forced a change in plans. Thankfully, due to the adaptability of La Conner school district and the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve staffs, students in the Between Two Worlds Indigenous Science class could still enjoy the beach life. Padilla Bay’s Annie English and Madi McKay brought forage fish eggs to t...
Efforts to find an alternative to historic Hedlin’s Ballfield as a local youth sports venue have apparently made it to first base. The La Conner School District will provide a secondary diamond between Whittaker Field and the high school varsity softball field for youth sports next year, several sources have told the Weekly News. “The field is fenced along the foul lines and there are dugouts,” said outgoing La Conner Schools Superintendent Rich Stewart, who discussed relocation plans with youth sports spokesperson Reb Broker recently. “What...
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...
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...
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no state basketball tournament this year. But the La Conner High girls’ basketball team, the defending state tourney runner-up, played – and won – four games in four days – similar to the Hardwood Classic format in Spokane – to tip off its modified spring season last week. And one of those matchups, a home clash with 1A King’s High School at Landy James Gym on Wednesday, very much resembled a state caliber game. La Conner fou...
La Conner’s Kali Adams wowed fans by rushing for more than 100 yards and two touchdowns in the Braves’ 41-0 shutout win at Darrington in the team’s season finale. The sophomore running back impressed state athletics officials as well. As a result, Adams was named the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) 2B football player of the week Thursday. Each week the WIAA, which governs school athletics and activities in the state, joins the Gesa Credit Union in recognizing stude...
Yes, there will be a La Conner parade and fireworks show July 4th. With Gov. Jay Inslee reopening Washington statewide June 30, Town Administrator Scott Thomas notified his staff Monday of those plans. La Conner Hook & Ladder is ready to “support and help anyway we can,” Chief Aaron Reinstra wrote in an email. That may be a commitment that their 1941 white firetruck will lead the parade. There will not be a concert or community picnic until next year, however. Maple Hall and the Civic Garden Club can be scheduled, as others already have. Sen...
The Pleasant Ridge Cemetery Commissioners invite the public to the outdoor Memorial Day service this year, following all COVID-19 safety protocols. The program is held at the Cemetery, 17666 Valentine Road, Mount Vernon. It will begin at 9 a.m. Monday, May 31. The Marine Corp League, #1043, Active and Retired, the Reverend Don Robinson, vocalist Judy Robinson and La Conner high school student, Mason Groesbeck will each contribute to the half hour celebration. Skagit Pioneer descendent Laurie Lane will share stories of her family and the potato...
La Conner students are daily taught the power of critical thinking. School officials are also embracing that lesson as they begin analyzing data collected from surveys whose input will help shape a draft district strategic plan addressing key academic and campus culture goals and objectives. La Conner school board members and administrators hosted a two-hour presentation Monday night by Roni Rumsey, director of professional learning at the Center for Educational Effectiveness. She shared insight into how data analysis can play a vital role in...
The La Conner High School Knowledge program is virtually – and truly – among the best in the country. La Conner’s “Chronically Iliad” team competed earlier this month against schools of all sizes in the inaugural virtual National Knowledge Bowl Tournament, placing fourth among entries from 1A enrollment campuses. Knowledge Bowl coaches Beth Clothier and Christi Malcomson said the La Conner team, which “competed up” as a 2B entry, underwent six rounds of oral and written questions...
For decades it has been a tradition for the La Conner High School Alumni Association, the oldest active organization of its kind in Washington state, to hold an annual banquet each spring to honor that year’s graduating seniors. For the second year in a row, COVID-19 will trump tradition – though not entirely in 2021. La Conner alums are being asked if they would attend a banquet and program in September, by which time more vaccinations will have been administered. The fall banquet proposal, along with scholarship donation and dues p...
In a short season, the La Conner High football team went a long way. All the way, in fact, to the top of league standings. Not too bad for a group some thought would be continuing a rebuild under new head coach Jeff Scoma. Instead, the Braves raised the roof and clinched the NW2B championship Friday night with their fourth straight win, a convincing 41-0 shutout victory as La Conner showed its mastery of the Wing-T attack Scoma brought with him from Bellevue. With the triumph, the Braves finished the ’21 spring campaign with a 4-1 mark. Five L...
By the numbers. The cliche is life is a numbers game. Start with 19. COVID-19 stands for coronavirus disease 2019. The year the virus appeared is part of its name. The favorite number for restaurants is 200. The hope has been that new infections would stay below 200 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in Skagit County in a two week period. That is one-half the magic combination to allow restaurants to continue to seat inside diners at 50% capacity. The twin metric to beat is five hospitalizations per week. Skagit County has not struck out...
Homecoming at La Conner schools will be earlier than usual this year. That is true, at least, for the district’s new assistant principal and athletics director. School Board members last week hired La Conner alum Christine Bruffy Tripp, currently the principal at Concrete High School, to return to her alma mater starting July 1. The board decision was unanimous, with member Lynette Bruffy Cram – Tripp’s sister – recusing herself from the vote. Tripp previously served an administrative internship at La Conner schools, middle and hig...
On April 26 our beloved Morrey Cort went on to a new adventure. Morrey loved adventures and was the most fun and enthusiastic nonagenarian you could ever meet. Morrey moved to La Conner in 2007. She lived in Harbor Villa for a number of years until she had to move to Josephine Caring Community in Stanwood in 2018. Morrey became a celebrity there as she was always the life of the party. They even made a promotional video with her as the star, driving around in her scooter. At one time Morrey volu...
The Soroptimist Honored Student for April, Annaliese Whitney, has varied talents and interests that she shares with family, friends and community members. Annaliese, a senior at La Conner High School, admitted that she is a bit of a procrastinator, but somehow she finds time for family, school, band, softball and volunteering! Her favorite classes in high school have been band, English and history. Annaliese has played the clarinet since 5th grade. She plays in the high school band and also the...
The La Conner High boys’ soccer team battled a stiff headwind at Whittaker Field last Tuesday. The Braves also dueled with a physical and veteran Mount Vernon Christian Hurricanes club that broke a scoreless tie with a pair of wind-aided second half goals, the latter of which came in the final minute of the contest. MVC recorded the tidy 2-0 victory on a beautiful sunlit but gusty afternoon. Coming off a season opening shutout win over Cedar Park Christian, La Conner was unable to take advantage...
The La Conner High football team was looking forward to avenging its 6-0 season opening overtime loss at Coupeville. Fortunately for the Braves, that opportunity came earlier than expected. And they made the most of it. The Braves blanked Coupeville 21-0 at home Saturday in a game that was moved up in the schedule mid-week due to Friday Harbor having suspended its athletics program because of increased COVID-19 test results in the San Juan Island School District. Friday Harbor was to have been La Conner’s foe last weekend. Coupeville was a...
The COVID-19 pandemic has scuttled post-season action, but the La Conner High volleyball team is playing like another state title is on the line. Lady Braves head coach Suzanne Marble, who has guided the program to five state crowns, would not have it any other way. The two-time defending state champions swept NW2B rivals Coupeville and Concrete in straight-set decisions last week. La Conner bested Coupeville 25-15, 25-7, 25-9 in a key road test last Tuesday against the former Class A Lady Wolves, who moved back to the NW2B ranks this year. It...
