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As I’ve mentioned before, heating – including both space heating and water heating – accounts for up to two-thirds of the energy use in the average Western Washington home. If you’re trying to reduce your heating bills, start by looking at the possibility of updating your building envelope – all of the surfaces of your home, plus its insulation. Our home in Shelter Bay was insulated well in 1978, when it was built. However, today’s insulation codes, depending on the type of space (e.g., wall...
Emergencies and natural disasters are no fun, but planning for them can be. The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community proved as much with its second annual Emergency Preparedness Fair at John K. Bob Ball Park on Oct. 17. The event was a festive affair with fun demonstrations (the one featuring use of fire extinguishers was especially popular), blaring rock-n-roll music, a food truck and giveaways of home emergency-related items. Flu and Covid vaccinations were also made available to those...
YOU CAN HELP La Conner Kiwanis and the La Conner High School student body are sponsoring a Halloween blood drive from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29, in the Landy James Gym. Your donation will preserve a life. Visit bloodworksnw.org, then go to its donor portal and search for La Conner. Please call if you have clinical questions, Dorothy, RN 360-431-9234, or about required registration, Lori, 360-630-0809. HEADS UP Skagit Habitat for Humanity will break ground on three new affordable homes in La Conner. Come to the corner of S. Third and Cal...
Great staff, great results: The La Conner Weekly News won 37 WNPA best newspaper awards at the annual Better Newspaper Contest of Washington's community newspapers, a bit short of doubling last year's total of 21. More individuals, 14, won in more categories. Weekly News staff swept first, second and third place five times, including art reviews, art features and general and topical columns. Bill Reynolds led with 11 certificates, with first place for a news and an education story. He shared...
During the week they shifted historic South First Street one-way southbound traffic flow, La Conner’s leaders put the brakes on any free-wheeling budget plans for 2025. Town Administrator Scott Thomas shared a tight financial forecast with Town Council members at their Oct. 8 meeting, confirming projections submitted in writing by Mayor Marna Hanneman. “This is a tight budget year,” Thomas stressed. “Inflationary costs have risen dramatically. Expenses are going up. I’ve told the staff this is a year that we have to cut and choose....
YOU CAN HELP La Conner Kiwanis and the La Conner High School student body are sponsoring a Halloween blood drive from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29, in the Landy James Gym. Your donation will preserve a life. Visit bloodworksnw.org, then go to its donor portal and search for La Conner. Please call if you have clinical questions, Dorothy, RN 360-431-9234, or about required registration, Lori, 360-630-0809. LIBRARIES La Conner Swinomish Library. 520 Morris St., La Conner. 360-466-3352. www.laconnerswinomishlibrary.org/events. Open 10 a.m. to...
Surprise! Art’s Alive is two weeks early this year – which looks like a sound decision. With the coming weekend a literal washout and November trending damp, it’s just possible that Oct. 25 will bestow a generous slice of lovely late-fall weather on the annual event, planned and produced by the La Conner Arts Foundation. This year’s show is actually three shows in one. As usual, the Invitational Show downstairs in Maple Hall will showcase eleven artists, five of them new to Art’s Alive. The late Thomas Stream, whose work graces this year’s post...
YOU CAN HELP La Conner Kiwanis and the La Conner High School student body are sponsoring a Halloween blood drive from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29, in the Landy James Gym. Your donation will preserve a life. Visit bloodworksnw.org, then go to its donor portal and search for La Conner. Please call if you have clinical questions, Dorothy, RN 360-431-9234, or about required registration, Lori, 360-630-0809. LIBRARIES La Conner Swinomish Library. 520 Morris St., La Conner. 360-466-3352. www.laconnerswinomishlibrary.org/events. Open 10 a.m.-6...
My name is Randi Perlman and I live in Alaska, but that is another story … . A dear friend of mine relocated from Alaska to Shelter Bay several years back to care for her aging mom. During the next eight years, my friend found a beautiful lot on a bluff overlooking the Swinomish Channel, built a new home with a spectacular view and firmly ensconced herself in lovely La Conner. For each of the last two years, it has been my good fortune to spend a month here house-sitting and caring for her aging dog while she travels. After spending a c...
HEADS UP DON’T FORGET! First Street south of Morris Street to Maple Hall will change to one-way southbound traffic on Wednesday, Oct. 9. Watch for traffic signs going up this week. NOT TO BE MISSED Skagit River Poetry Festival 2024: The 12th biennial Skagit River Poetry Festival will be held Oct. 3-5 in La Conner at Maple Hall and other venues. Ticket prices $25, $50, $100, available at tinyurl.com/SRPFestTix24. All students free with ID. Volunteers are also needed. Sign up at skagitriverpoetry.org/About/Volunteer. LIBRARIES La Conner S...
It was a hit! A couple dozen people filtered in and out of Stompin' Grounds Coffee Co. on Monday morning for what may become an annual Coffee and Cops meeting. Skagit County sheriff's deputies Gary Huehnerhoff and Trevor Waller "hosted" the gathering while area residents sipped coffee and asked questions in the warm and friendly atmosphere. Huehnerhoff has been with the Skagit County Sheriff's Office for eight years. "My goal is to be out in the community. I enjoy being around and helping...
NOT TO BE MISSED Have coffee, learn what police do. Join your neighbors and talk with deputies and area police officers at Coffee with a Cop, 10 a.m. to noon Monday, Sept. 30, at Stompin’ Grounds Coffee, 306 Morris St., La Conner. Coffee with a Cop breaks down the barriers between law enforcement and citizens with conversation. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT The Town of La Conner will hold a public workshop on the Commercial Transition (Moore-Clark) sub-area plan at 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 30, in Maple Center. Come share your thoughts with town staff and p...
It's no secret that La Conner Weekly News Publisher Ken Stern wants to sell his newspaper. Stern is 69. He is ready to retire. Stern envisions younger, ambitious journalists buying the business, maybe with the community's help. But if that doesn't happen soon, the final La Conner Weekly News rolls off the press on Dec. 18. Finding Ken 2.0 has not been easy. There are plenty of journalists who can run this newspaper, but none have made an offer on Stern's asking price to buy a profitable...
Reporting at the Sept. 10 La Conner Town Council meeting, Sgt. Brad Holmes, the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office La Conner detachment administrator, made a plea to residents and an apology to the council. He addressed concerns voiced at the Aug. 27 council meeting over deputies’ response times to a nighttime burglary and theft incident around North Third Street that month. Holmes said that deputies had arrived in La Conner within 20 minutes of the crimes being reported and immediately began patrolling for the suspect vehicle, which staff learned...
The La Conner Braves had extra motivation to defeat Vashon Island in its football season home opener at Whittaker Field Friday night. It wasn’t just because the Braves had suffered a 64-24 loss to Pomeroy in their 2024 eight-man grid debut a week earlier. Returning home, La Conner players were joined on their sideline by celebrated motivational speaker Curt Marsh, the former University of Washington All-American and Los Angeles Raiders Super Bowl champion. He now resides in Shelter Bay. “What I liked a lot about tonight is how you played for...
NOT TO BE MISSED Skagit Valley Giant Pumpkin Festival, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21. It ends with pumpkin and squash entry weigh-offs for prizes. It starts with fun for kids of all ages and food, drinks, a hay maze and plants. Christianson’s Nursery & Greenhouse, 15806 Best Road, Mount Vernon. Get out your bibs, it’s the Skagit Tidewater Boil! Celebrate the food, farming and fishing communities of Skagit Valley with fine food, 5:30-6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 26, at the La Conner Marina. Tickets on sale at genuineskagitvalley.com. COM...
I can recommend two books: The Bible and “The Anti-Communist Manifesto” by Jesse Kelly. Because our homeland is in such crises, it is difficult to know how to briefly say what is in my head and heart. So, just this: Truth is under attack. Deception is the name of the game today. Lies are repeated and repeated and many Americans are deceived by those who are working to change, destroy this constitutional republic. If we can’t discern truth from lies, we are easily deceived. Also, platforms are available for us to read. What does the Repub...
At Saturday’s Meet the Mayor session at the La Conner Swinomish Library, Mayor Marna Hanneman ended the hour upbeat, telling the seven assembled they were awesome and that she was encouraged. “I keep saying it takes a village,” she said, suggesting, “let’s take it on the road,” to Shelter Bay and other communities, in a collaborative effort to tackle greater La Conner’s problems. And while she noted, “It’s all of us, farmers, merchants, the Tribe, Shelter Bay,” everyone at the table had faithfully attended most of these near monthly meetin...
It is with heavy hearts that we share that, on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, Douglas Shannon "Doug" Snider passed away at the age of 79 while boating with his wife. Doug was born on Oct. 27, 1944, in Colorado Springs, Colo., to John and Elsie Snider. The family moved to Medford, Ore., a year later. After graduating from Saint Mary's School, he attended the University of Notre Dame where he received a degree in architecture. Shortly afterwards, he entered the Navy where he spent the next four years. Du...
HEADS UP IMPORTANT! Wednesday, Oct. 9, S. First Street traffic shifts to ONE-WAY SOUTHBOUND. Commercial Street will become ONE-WAY EASTBOUND. Info: Call 360-466-3125. NOT TO BE MISSED Free docent-led tours at Museum of Northwest Art. Join a docent for a public tour of exhibitions at MoNA, 11-11:45 a.m. second Saturdays, 121 S. First St. RSVP at monamuseum.org/docent-led-tours. Sept. 23-27 is Fall Prevention Week at the Anacortes Senior Center. Daily presentations include Safe Walking; Core Strength; Life Events and the Risk of Falls; Safe...
Cruising over from Shelter Bay for scoops of ice cream at O'Neil's Confectionery and Soda Fountain seems the perfect way to end a Labor Day afternoon in La Conner. And what better way to putter over, literally, than in a bright red mini tugboat complete with to-scale tire fenders? That is what Keri and Michael Palasz did about 5 p.m. Monday. Rum raisin was her first choice while he was planning on mint chocolate chip. Keri was piloting their recently acquired boat, bringing it into La Conner's...
Elaine Stewart, longtime resident of Skagit County, passed away July 31 with family by her side, leaving behind a legacy of service, dedication and love. Following the untimely death of her mother, Elaine lived with the Diehl family, graduating Bellingham High School, class of 1949. After graduation, she went to visit the Stewart family on Decatur Island. It was there she met her husband, Robert Alan Stewart. They married in 1949, living for a time on the historic property before moving to Anacortes. Elaine worked as a meat wrapper, retiring...
A celebration of life will be held for Mike Chevalier from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, at the Shelter Bay clubhouse. Soft liquor will be served and Santo Coyote will cater a taco bar. Please come and share a favorite story about Mike....
HEADS UP The La Conner wastewater treatment plant will close at 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 6 to septage hauling, yard waste dumping and compost pickup. The plant is expected to be closed most of the day. NOT TO BE MISSED Saturday with the Mayor, it’s open mic. Come and talk with Mayor Marna Hanneman at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 7 at the La Conner Swinomish Library. Join local poet Susan Rich for a short introduction to writing poetry about visual art, 4-5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, at the Museum of Northwest Art. Get inspired surrounded by art and o...
Nancy Llewellyn may not have known it at the time, but her years at La Conner High School in the late 1960s and early 1970s were a prescription for future success. A positive prognosis was quite apparent even then to fellow students and faculty members alike, all of whom admired her keen academic skills, especially gifts for solving tough math problems and writing bold pieces for the campus newspaper. The 1972 La Conner grad would go on to medical school at the University of Washington and a sub...
