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Council and staff are finalizing the budget La Conner Mayor Ramon Hayes presented to them Oct. 21. He called 2020 unprecedented, noting the coronavirus pandemic and the spring’s “dramatic decreases in economic activity” when presenting his budget message to the Town Council and community. All comparisons of the 2021 budget are against the 2020 budget as passed. Revenues through October were down 3.5% from the budget passed last December. Town revenues received a boost from the $200,000 sale of the Town-owned “Kirsch property.” Full year 2020...
Town officials are inching closer to what would be a big step toward brightening the mood here this holiday season. The Town Council is poised to accept interlocal agreements with Skagit County and the Port of Skagit to cover costs of lighting the north side of the iconic Rainbow Bridge. “The Port has indicated they are proceeding with it,” Town Administrator Scott Thomas told the Council during the nearly one-hour tele-conferenced session Oct. 27, bringing the long-sought sanctioned bridge ligh...
Putting heads in beds is a big part of the tourism industry. And putting lodging tax dollars to work promoting La Conner is a big part of the local economy. As such, disbursing hotel/motel tax funds assumes even greater value during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a frequently spirited discussion during the La Conner Town Council meeting last week. The Council then approved a 2021 hotel/motel tax budget based on anticipated virus crisis revenue shortfalls. Several recipients of...
The initial option for slowing traffic on North Third Street has hit a speed bump of its own. Hindered by expected revenue shortfalls linked to COVID-19, Town officials are backing off plans to install elongated speed bumps on the main route to and from the Port of Skagit’s La Conner Marina. “The reality is I don’t think we can afford these measures,” Town Administrator Scott Thomas said of placing speed bumps similar to those at the U.S.-Canada border crossing in Blaine as a means of improving traffic safety on North Third, long a priorit...
More help is on the way. It will not be part of a new federal economic stimulus package, but instead additional CARES Act funds from legislation passed last spring and which will be earmarked for support of La Conner businesses. Town officials last week said La Conner is receiving about $15,000 in added Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) monies after a previous $28,800 award. The earlier funding was dedicated to Town staff’s wages and other COVID-related items, including placement of a port-a-potty in front of the Morris S...
A recent rash of graffiti vandalism in La Conner, where targets have included community hub Maple Hall and a venerable large oak tree, is not so much disturbing for its appearance as it is for who might be responsible. There are indications the tagging might relate to gang activity, Sgt. Jeff Willard, who administers the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office La Conner detachment, said last week. Willard said the numeral “360” spray-painted on the landmark tree near the skate park off North First Street...
Defunding the police was never an issue in La Conner this summer. The question instead was whether the Town could afford a three per cent hike in its law enforcement services contract with the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office amid fears of falling municipal revenues due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A 4-1 Town Council majority approved $331,097 for 2021, closing the books on a month-long discussion at its Aug. 25 meeting, Councilmembers Bill Stokes and Jacques Brunisholz had earlier said there were obstacles to contracting with Swinomish, a move t...
A bump in the road is usually seen as a setback or annoying obstacle. In La Conner, on heavily traveled North Third Street, a bump in the road could be a welcome addition for residents concerned about traffic safety in their neighborhood. Installing an elongated speed bump, similar to those used at the Peace Arch U.S.-Canada border crossing in Blaine, is just one option to slow down traffic on the main arterial to the Port of Skagit’s La Conner Marina. Traffic safety on North Third, which has be...
Fifty-years-ago the La Conner commercial scene boasted canneries, full-service fuel stations and a major fish-food processing plant. All are gone now. But 1970 also saw the ribbon cut for launch of a new and key cog in the local economy – one that not only remains but has grown significantly over the past half-century. The first phase of the Port of Skagit’s La Conner Marina was dedicated in late May that year with a ceremony keynoted by U.S. Sen. Henry Jackson, of Everett, who twice sough...
Scratch the Town of La Conner’s July 4th parade, picnic, concert and fireworks from your summer calendar. Ditto the Chamber of Commerce’s annual August Classic Boat & Car Show. There will not be a La Conner Live Summer Concert Series at Gilkey Square, either. And for the first time in 116 years pioneer family descendents will not gather for the Pioneer Picnic come August. The Pleasant Ridge Cemetery Memorial Day celebration May 25 is canceled, also. There will not be a May 31 celebration of the La Conner Marina’s 50th Anniversary. It is postp...
For San Francisco Bay Ferry Mavrik Marine is building a 130-foot long, 36-foot beam and 30-foot high boat in its 36-foot high Pearle Jensen Way facility. When done, they will build a second ferry for them. But orders for 50-foot high boats requires building a 60-foot high building. The company is planning to do that this spring. Manufacturing big boats requires a big building. Mavrik plans to build twin buildings 60-feet high by 200.3 feet by 86 feet. Each will total 17,226 square feet. At its F...
To the Editor: The inadequate fishway in the jetty between Goat Island and McGlinn Island should now be rectified. Its original design was to have three feet of water, for the passage of salmon fry at any minus tide and to allow small boat passage. The miles of sanctuary waters off the Swinomish Channel, north of La Conner, Telegraph Slough and others were key control areas for survival of young salmon in their transition from fresh water to the sea. The fishway was built too shallow and would not allow fry to swim through it at any tide less t...
MILLTOWN, Wash. — The U.S. Coast Guard and a good Samaritan rescued three duck hunters after their vessel capsized Dec. 29 near where the north fork of the Skagit River enters Skagit Bay. A good Samaritan rescued one of the three hunters and brought him to a nearby marina, where he called 911. Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound watchstanders received an initial request for assistance from the Skagit County Sheriff Department as deputies were attempting to rescue two men who remained stranded in mud flats roughly 200 yards from the Skagit...
I have always loved the holidays. Not for the presents or all the commercial wrappings but for the simple things; twinkling lights, family, friends, sitting by a fire and, most of all, memories. This year my family focused less on “things” and more on time spent together. We traveled to Victoria, British Columbia spending several days wandering about the city, viewing Christmas light displays and enjoying each other’s company. Victoria is a very clean friendly city with a beautiful inner harbor. Much of it and its attractions are walka...
They came to support the new La Conner Swinomish Library and they did not disappoint. One-hundred-two people attended the 4th Festival of Tiny Trees last Saturday at the Swinomish Yacht Club. A silent auction featured 21 tabletop trees decked out to represent a range of themes: nature, the winter solstice, forest friends, owls, holiday baking, wine, spirits, coffee, fairyland, travel and even the “little library that could.” Alexa Robbins and her sister Tina Everitt’s “Christmas Under the Big...
Ten Genuine Skagit Valley members got a combined prep talk and introduction to the program’s vision of making the Skagit Valley’s agricultural products as well known as Napa Valley wines at a rollout training Oct. 10. That’s consultant Duane Knapp’s hope for the branding program the Port of Skagit is championing to increase recognition, value and sales of agricultural goods regionally, initially – and globally in the future. The path to local agriculture’s future viability lies through a joint promise growers embrace in taking up the re...
“I started painting and drawing as a little kid and it has dominated my life ever since.” - Larry Heald. “Larry” passed away quietly and peacefully in the early hours of October 1st with his loving wife, Dana, and his faithful furry friend, Emme, at his side. He lived as he died: a man of great dignity, wisdom, kindness, and talent. Always a soft-spoken man, 10 years of living with Alzheimer’s eventually robbed Larry of his wisdom and talent, but he maintained his dignity and sweet nature to the very end. However, it is the legacy of his talen...
This sleepy, off year election has two important contested local races and 24 total items needing your attention and decisions. Incumbent La Conner School District directors are challenged in district 1, where John Agen runs against five year veteran Kate Szurek, and district 2, which has Marlys Baker facing Board Chair Janie Beasley. Incumbent Lynette Cram in district 4 is unopposed as is appointed director Susan Deyo in district 5. Voters will decide on three changes to state law: Referendum Measure 88, which the legislature placed on the...
Last October Boater’s Discount in La Conner, the only marine products store in town, lost its lease with the Port of Skagit last fall. The Port has been mum as to why the lease was cancelled, but the result was that after a fire sale of marine products last winter, Boater’s Discount closed its doors at the end of February 2019. La Conner prides itself as a boating community. Between Port of Skagit moorage facilities in La Conner and the Shelter Bay Marina, hundreds of pleasure and commercial craft are home-ported in La Conner. Boaters need mar...
La Conner Live would like to thank the following for their dedicated support for the 2019 Sunday concert series. The Ward Foundation, the Town of La Conner and the Port of Skagit donated $2,000-$5,000 apiece. The LUX Art Center, Mt Vernon Building Center, La Conner Pub & Eatery, Skagit Cellars and La Conner Tea Co. each donated $500. Seaport Books, La Conner’s Seaside Gallery, Anelia’s Kitchen & Stage, Skagit Crest Vineyard & Winery, Africa Mama and Fine Feathered Friends were merchant sponsors at $200. Without this financial support La Con...
Amy Moe and Byron Betts are bringing an old crop back to new life in the Skagit Valley. They are the first hop growers to surface in the valley in years. While most people think of eastern Washington as the hops capital of the state, Moe says hops were actually grown quite widely in Skagit Valley – before Prohibition. Fir Island was once filled with hops. No longer. But now, thanks to Moe and Betts, there’s Hop Skagit. Moe is a fourth-generation farmer using the land where she grew up. O...
Through cooperation between local agricultural businesses, a new approach to marketing hopes to live up to its promise of being “locally grown, globally known.” Genuine Skagit Valley, rolled out during February’s Agriculture Summit by the Port of Skagit Executive Director Patsy Martin, is a federal certification mark that almost 25 Valley companies have purchased to date. Boldly Grown Farm, Blanchard Mountain Farm, Bow Hill Blueberries, Samish Bay Cheese, Skagit Valley Malting and the La Conner...
Almost one year after collecting weapons from the public – aiming to transform guns into art, a group of local artist has crafted an emotionally powerful exhibit dedicated to gun violence. Their memorial stones, piled into a cairn, is now on its first public display at the Anacortes Arts Festival. The Memorial Cairn installation is part of the Anacortes Regeneration Project and includes the work of several dozen Skagit Valley artists. La Conner’s Tracy Powell is among those artists, as wel...
He has alternately been a Port of Skagit manager, Town Councilmember, Mayor of La Conner, and Skagit County Treasurer. And a dishwasher and real estate agent. Plus a U.S. Navy captain. Now, just 16 months shy of his 90th birthday, Dan O’Donnell has embraced the role as La Conner’s man of letters. Refusing to make concessions to age, O’Donnell remains a frequent contributor to the La Conner Weekly News Letters to the Editor section, as he did previously with the Channel Town Press. O’Don...
La Conner bared its soul during Fourth of July festivities here on Thursday. Make that Souls. A string of Kia Souls, the hip boxy car designed for millennials, was among the highlights of a colorful, briskly-paced 15-minute downtown Independence Day Parade, which set in motion a full-day local celebration of America’s 243rd birthday. One of the Souls carried the company’s popular mascot – a hamster said to symbolize Kia’s goal of delivering motorists from the humdrum of life on an exerc...
