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Ken Stern is moving on from what he calls his "best job ever" to a retirement that will likely involve travel near and far. Stern, after all, rarely ventured beyond what he calls the greater La Conner area during seven-and-a-half years as publisher of the community's weekly newspaper, which came to be defined by his topical, lively and – often by design – controversial editorials. "For seven years," Stern reflected last week, "I've been chained to my desk here in La Conner. I haven't seen anythi...
The miracle of Christmas came to La Conner early this year. On a day that began with fierce winds that brought down trees and power lines across Puget Sound and imposed choppy currents on local waterways, then ended with a cold, drizzly rain – and in some cases hail – a two-hour evening window of calm, comfortable weather emerged here. Clouds parted and the almost-full moon was plainly visible. It just so happened that last Saturday's respite from harsh wintry conditions coincided with the ann...
I wanted to say that I will really miss the paper. I have enjoyed it immensely. If I knew how long my money would last me I would have contributed gladly. Thank you! Vanessa Jett Shelter Bay...
As you cruise into retirement to wallow in hedonism, I want to thank you for embodying Civic Virtue in our hometown La Conner Weekly News. You dared to share with your readers what 70 of the top one hundred newspapers in circulation did not, endorse a presidential candidate. And you were in good company as those papers who did not kowtow to their billionaire or hedge fund owners, 28 endorsed Harris while two endorsed Trump. Those who didn’t do their civic duty their reasons were “growing polarization and fears of political ret...
LIBRARIES La Conner Swinomish Library. 520 Morris St., La Conner. 360-466-3352. www.laconnerswinomishlibrary.org/events. Open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays. 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. Closed Sundays. Storytime for Children, 11 a.m. Fridays. Tech Help Mondays, 3-5 p.m. Get 30 minutes of one-on-one technical help. Must register. After-school LEGO club, ages 5 and up, 3-4 p.m., second Fridays monthly. Mount Vernon Public Library. 208 W. Kincaid St., Mount Vernon. 360-336-6209, mountver...
La Conner's favorite tourist is an early riser who also enjoys the local nightlife. Santa Claus, the renowned North Pole toymaker who makes visits to La Conner a winter priority, was in town early on Saturday to greet local children and partake in the local Rotary Club's annual pancake breakfast fundraiser. Following a ride on La Conner's vintage white 1941 fire truck, Santa appeared after nightfall at Gilkey Square for the much-anticipated Chamber of Commerce Christmas tree lighting. Whether...
Skagit Community Band with special guest A’Town Big Band will present a free concert at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13, at Maple Hall in La Conner. Enjoy an evening of holiday cheer with the SCB as they perform a program of festive and exciting holiday music. Joining the SCB will be the A’Town Big Band putting its own spin on “Swinging” holiday favorites. More info at: www.skagitcommunityband.org. Theater Arts Guild presents “The Secret Garden, the Musical” with performances on Dec. 12-15 and 19-21 at the Lincoln Theatre 712 S. First St., Mount Verno...
HEADS UP Town of La Conner public workshop on the use of the Commercial Transition Zone, aka the Moore Clark Area, 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 11, in Maple Hall, 104 Commercial St. Info: www.townoflaconner.org. Join us again at Pioneer Park as we remove invasive English ivy, 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Dec. 14, rain AND shine. We’ll meet at the top of Fourth Street, near the water tower gate. More info: [email protected]. Holiday origami ornaments with Mike Berry, 2-4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, at Museum of Northwest Art, 121 S. First St. C...
News scoop: Santa's advance schedule of early La Conner visits has been leaked to the Weekly News. Parents, are these times on your calendar? Saturday morning Santa will be posing for photos at Maple Hall when the Rotary Club of La Conner holds its annual Santa Breakfast, 8-11 a.m. Dec. 7. Breakfast is $10 and $5 children, with those under 5 eating free. There is no charge for photos, but donations will help support the La Conner Rotary Club's literacy initiatives. In past years this was a...
The effort by the La Conner Community News group to purchase the La Conner Weekly News and secure its future into 2025 and beyond appears to have fallen short, but not for lack of effort. Unless an angel investor comes forward in the next two weeks, the final issue of the La Conner Weekly News under publisher Ken Stern will hit the streets and mailboxes on Dec. 18. "It's a sad day for La Conner," Mayor Marna Hanneman said. "It takes a village and when something important in the village goes, it...
A good number of people have asked about the status of our recently formed La Conner Community News non-profit organization’s efforts to “Save the Newspaper.” We have been encouraged by the community interest and support demonstrated by financial pledges and donations, but have raised only a fraction of the funds needed to purchase the La Conner Weekly News and transition to a new managing editor. Even though our 11th-hour efforts have not raised sufficient funds for a purchase, we plan to continue our efforts to ensure the presence of a sourc...
HEADS UP Kiwanis Annual Holiday Craft Show, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 7, Maple Hall, 104 Commercial St., La Conner. Christmas shop with locals. Ornaments, bags, stickers, jewelry, tablecloths, toys, cards, wall art, cookies and pies for sale. Come early for the Rotary Club Santa Breakfast and stop by the vendors on your way out. Town of La Conner public workshop on the use of the Commercial Transition Zone, aka the Moore Clark Area, 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 11, in Maple Hall, 104 Commercial St. Info: www.townoflaconner.org. LIBRARIES La...
Re Mr. John Cline’s very uncivil letter to the editor in the Nov. 20 edition (“The incredible shrinking newspaper editor”). It sounded like a school boy’s triumphant “neener, neener, neener.” Of course, what else can we expect from Trump supporters? They can’t just win, they have to rub it in with sarcasm and name-calling. It is to be hoped that one day, in the near future, Mr. Cline and his ilk are as adversely affected by Trump’s insane lies and truly heinous cabinet nominees as the rest of us will be. Maybe they will then realize the error o...
HEADS UP Kiwanis Annual Holiday Craft Show, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 7, Maple Hall, 104 Commercial St., La Conner. Christmas shop with locals. Ornaments, bags, stickers, jewelry, tablecloths, toys, cards, wall art, cookies and pies for sale. Come early for the Rotary Club Santa Breakfast and stop by the vendors on your way out. Town of La Conner public workshop on the use of the Commercial Transition Zone, aka. the Moore Clark Area, 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 11, in Maple Hall, 104 Commercial St. Info: www.townoflaconner.org. LIBRARIES La...
Ken, regarding your last two editorials commenting on the presidential election results, your apparent inability to comprehend that for some people there are just as many logical, valid, righteous and positive reasons to vote for Donald Trump as you have for voting for Kamala Harris reflects an immense shallowness in your journalistic curiosity (see CNN’s Scott Jennings’ article latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-11-01/election-donald-trump-kamala-harris for a different perspective). Your further reflexive impulse to ascribe only the most hat...
HEADS UP Kiwanis Annual Holiday Craft Show 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 7, Maple Hall, 104 Commercial St., La Conner. Christmas shop with locals. Ornaments, bags, stickers, jewelry, tablecloths, toys, cards, wall art, cookies and pies for sale. Come early for the Rotary Club Santa Breakfast and stop by the vendors on your way out. LIBRARIES La Conner Swinomish Library. 520 Morris St., La Conner. 360-466-3352. www.laconnerswinomishlibrary.org/events. Open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays. 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays....
HEADS UP Northwest Agriculture Safety Day, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14, at Maple Hall, 104 Commercial St., La Conner. Register at www.gishab.org/NW-ASD2024. $75 per person, $10 group discount for five or more registrants. Lunch and snacks provided, parking passes available. English and Spanish sessions on: * Blast sprayer calibration and configuration * Tractor safety * Prevent sexual harassment in agriculture * Pesticide labels * Machine guarding/lock out tag out * Developing an effective accident prevention program Presented by...
From start to finish, volunteers made this year's Art's Alive a success. They greeted almost 1,800 visitors during the four-day show the last weekend in October, plying them with wine, beer and appetizers, answering questions and ringing up sales. Before and after, they planned the show, hung its art and took it all down again Monday, Oct. 28. In between duties, they admired one another's art. Six of the 10 invitational artists featured on the first floor of Maple Hall and 16 of the 51 artists i...
It was another spooktacular Halloween in and around La Conner. Historic First Street, now one-way traffic, was closed to all traffic – other than the popular Meow Mix car and law enforcement vehicles – for a full hour Thursday afternoon to allow for La Conner's annual Halloween downtown pedestrian parade. After striding from Gilkey Square to Maple Hall, costumed paraders of all ages walked back to Morris Street, collecting candy along the way from La Conner merchants and business owners. "Th...
As office seekers and voters alike focused on which way political winds were blowing, it was a meteorological windstorm that grabbed attention in the La Conner area Monday afternoon. Gusts of up to 60 mph snapped off sections of trees in the Snee-Oosh Road area, occasionally bringing down power lines and causing short-term interruptions of electrical service. Power was out on at least some part of Pull and Be Damned Road till about 3 a.m. Tuesday. Some homes in Shelter Bay lost power for at least a couple of hours. Indian Road was closed to...
HEADS UP Free veterans appreciation dinner, 6-8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8, at Camano Chapel, 867 W. Camano Drive, Camano Island. Keynote speaker Mary Pilkington will share POW/wartime experiences of her late husband, Col. Fred Pilkington. RSVP to 206-550-4409 or email [email protected]. Indicate your choice of salmon or prime rib. LEND A HAND Pioneer Park ivy removal: Join a volunteer work party to remove invasive English ivy at Pioneer Park, 9-11 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 9. Info: [email protected]. LIBRARIES La Conner Swinomish Library. 520...
If not heartwarming, it was at least a homecoming when the potentially painful topic of property taxes was discussed during the Oct. 22 La Conner Town Council meeting at Maple Hall. First-term Skagit County Assessor Danny Hagen, a former Shelter Bay resident who in a past life was a La Conner High School athlete and later a Braves basketball coach, provided an update on local property value changes at the outset of the 90-minute public session last week. Hagen, who played hoops for Cal Lutheran...
HEADS UP Saturday with the Mayor. Come to the La Conner Swinomish Library at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, for an open conversation with Mayor Marna Hanneman. Topic: “Preparing for an Unplanned Event” by Gerry George of the town’s Emergency Management Commission. Free veterans appreciation dinner, 6-8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8, at Camano Chapel, 867 W. Camano Drive, Camano Island. Keynote speaker Mary Pilkington will share POW/wartime experiences of her late husband, Col. Fred Pilkington. RSVP to 206-550-4409 or email [email protected]. Indicate your...
The choice is ours. Life or death. Freedom of religion or suppression of religion. Borders or no borders. Liberty or socialism/ Marxism/communism. The American Dream or rampant inflation. Constitutional republic or tyranny. Respected by the world powers or laughed at and used. Rule of law or lawlessness. Protection of our innocent children or brain washing our children in America’s schools and colleges. Respect for the Supreme Court or challenging the authority of the Supreme Court. Peace in our country or criminal chaos in our cities and st...
PEO Chapter JG of La Conner held “Gifts Galore,” an auction and brunch in Maple Hall on Oct. 19 to raise money to support women’s education. We offer financial help in the form of educational grants and scholarships to qualified women. We can only do this with the support of family, friends and donations from merchants. We thank the following merchants of La Conner for the donations to our auction: Red Door, Hellams, Waterfront Café, Apothecary, Skagit Cellers, Tim Winstrom, Stompin’ Grounds, Country Lady, Nell Thorn, The Stall, Ginger G...
