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Town leaders caught a glimpse of the future last Wednesday morning. Designer Curt Miller shared drawings at a Town Parks Commission meeting for improving the Jordan Street pocket park on North First Street across from Swinomish Yacht Club. This would develop a waterfront lot next to the Kirsch property. Miller’s drawings include, among other featured options, detailed landscaping, an angled walkway to the shoreline, a vined trellis, picnic tables, and benches. “This is a beautiful des...
A planned victory lap to herald the completion of the first “Birds of Winter: A Skagit Valley Experience” among the county’s economic development, tourism promotion and environmental and birding advocates got sidetracked and hijacked last week. Instead, a meeting comprised primarily of farmers and conservationists was held at the Skagit County Washington State University Extension office at the Port of Skagit March 28. Andrew Miller, who has coordinated the loose knit Birds of Winter planning for EDASC, the Economic Development Alliance of Sk...
Mona maiden of the Salish, misguided maybe, maybe I can help. Sometimes my mind mingles with the mud of the bottoms where we live, sometimes I see and say, profetic and pathetic things. So it is that occasionally this prothetic prose is read by you. Mona, museum of northwest arts, right now is going through the misery of smelling its own farts. Let’s hope that some spring breezes clear the air. Perhaps a little insight from an artful farmer, it seems only fair. I’ve farmed here for over fifty years, with my artist friends as muses and gui...
Roger Pederson will have to wait a week to hear his lawyer make the case in Skagit County District Court for returning 135 Scottish Highland cattle to his farm. The cattle were seized from the Bay View farmer by county and state authorities based on complaints by neighbors in January. At Monday’s hearing Judge Dianne Goddard gave Pederson attorney Emily Beschen a week, scheduling a March 12 (11 a.m.) follow-up session. Spectator rows in the Mount Vernon courtroom were filled for the briskly-paced 35-minute hearing The one-week interim period w...
The smelt weren’t running in La Conner Saturday, February 24, but 81 people were, as the took part in the annual smelt run. Six of the runners were under 14 years old. Run coordinator Peter Voorhees was satisfied, emailing “Considering the weather it went really well. Lots of happy people; we had over 160 people sign-up.” There weren’t a lot of folks fishing for smelt. One couple came from Idaho, four guys came from Seattle, and several hailed from Alger, Bow and Bellingham. Maybe 30 people,...
The big news about 2018’s July 4th fireworks at the February 13 town council meeting was that Kody Skvaril, Port of Skagit harbormaster, has resigned, to move back to Guam. Mayor Ramon Hayes lamented his loss, saying “Kody was the glue, from the Port side. He knows exactly what to do.” With only a little discussion, the Council approved a motion by member Bill Stokes to lock in the $10,000 agreement with Western Display Fireworks, of Oregon, to provide fireworks on July 4 from the west side of the Swinomish Channel. With no fireworks, but o...
The Ocean Guardian tested eastern Pacific, Puget Sound waters this past week, down the Swinomish Channel and into Skagit Bay, but it will soon be plying the mid-ocean waters off Maui. Built by Mavrik Marine in La Conner, it went into the water the week of February 5. It is going to Seattle this week, where it will be loaded on a barge for delivery in Maui. Friday, February 9, U.S. Coast Guard staff were on board at the Port of Skagit Marina inspecting and certifying the ferry. Company owner...
Citizens re-elected MaryLee Chamberlain, John Leaver and Bill Stokes to the La Conner Town Council Nov. 7. Chamberlain topped the vote count with 226. Fire District 13 Commissioners Bruce Shellhamer and Larry Kibbee, also unopposed, won election, Shellhamer for the first time. Similarly, Doug Peterson won his first race, unopposed, as a commissioner for Fire District 12. Michael Madlung won, again unopposed, in Fire District 2 as did Steven Omdal for Port of Skagit Commissioner 2. Jon Petrich will be District 2’s commissioner for the Port of A...
If only the candidates vote in this year’s town council election, they will win. Running unopposed are incumbents John Leaver, Council Position 2, Bill Stokes, Council Position 3 and Mary Lee Chamberlain, Council Position 4. Once the La Conner School District directors vote, they, too, win. Running without opposition are Brad Smith, Director District 3, Lynette Cram, Director District 4 and John Thulen, Director District 5. The same is true for Fire District 12 and 13 commissioner positions. Doug Peterson is running unopposed for C...
This year’s elections are underway. Registered voters have till 8 p.m., November 7 to vote. New Washingtonians can register through October 30. While voting is at the heart of the democratic process, heavy lifting precedes it. Our local ballot is surprisingly long. My policy is to only vote for candidates who have earned my vote. My obligation is to find out where each candidate stands. If I don’t know the pertinent positions and the office’s demands, I am a sloppy citizen if I cast a vote anyway. Yet I am irresponsible if I don’t vote. O...
It doesn’t get any more local than the third annual Brew on the Slough at Maple Hall Oct. 21. La Conner Brewing Company, the most local participant, is one of several breweries using Skagit Valley grains. Seattle-based Pike Brewing names a beer “Pike Locale Skagit Valley Alba” using the malt from Skagit Valley Malt. Farmstrong, from Mount Vernon, will be pouring beers made with local grains. Farmstrong’s Todd Owsley emphasized “the mission of our brewery is to showcase agricultural viability and the sustainability of the Skagit Valley. W...
There is hope a sequel to the protracted Dog Beach drama north of town can be much more of a feel-good story than the original. Former Town Public Works Director Gordy Bell, a La Conner native with pioneer roots, has agreed to help mediate an often emotionally charged dispute whose script addresses a familiar local theme. That being the difficult balancing act between private property ownership, maintenance costs, and liability concerns on the one hand and safe public access to scenic pastoral and shoreline venues on the other. Many say the...
“You’ll never need another penicillin shot or an anti-biotic the rest of your life – just eat a farmed fish, ”Marcia Dale says. Dale has been “hanging gear” for locals as well as Bristol Bay commercial fishermen for decades and is an avid consumer of wild salmon. And she makes a mean smoked fish. Her sentiments, angry, raging, were echoed over and over by both non-native and native fishermen, sports fishermen and foodies alike since Cooke American’s fish farm near Cypress Island brok...
The world’s wheat and barley enthusiasts, professionals and hobbyists alike, flocked to the 2017 Grain Gathering at Washington State University’s Bread Lab food campus last week. Over 300 people from 23 states and seven countries spent three days at the Port of Skagit to hear, see and taste the progress researchers and scientists are making turning Skagit Valley grains into feedstock for artisanal producers. They also sampled freshly made breads, beers, bagels and more. The significance of the 7th annual Grain Gathering, held this year in the...
Last week over 300 people from seven countries and 23 states came to the seventh annual Great Grains Gathering. Bakers, brewers, millers, researchers, scientists, home and backyard varieties of the above, and at least one La Conner organic farmer came, to learn, admire, copy and take home techniques, tips, samples and business cards. Washington State University’s bread lab team is breeding and harvesting its vision of turning the Skagit Valley’s barley and wheat crops into high demand flours, malts and whiskey feedstocks sought for their fla...
Did you look at your property tax statements, and notice your county road tax, etc. increased? They did – minimally, because 931 Shelter Bay parcels were removed from the county property tax rolls, as the non-payors “revenue” was “shifted” to the payors! Most people believe the removal of tax parcels from county tax rolls reduces the amount of taxes collected by the various governments involved: Not so, each taxing bodies submits annual budgets to the county, and the county collects that revenue from remaining payors to fund the service...
Skagit Co. Sheriff’s Office Monday Feb 27 11:53 a.m.: Creeper – A report of a prowler in La Conner. 7:27 p.m.: Bad parking spot – Deputies responded after a car-owner was planning to leave their car for a few hours at theLa Conner Whitney Road roundabout after it got a flat tire. Tuesday Feb 28 8:32 p.m.: Off-leash – Two dogs were spotted running free in front of the La Conner library onMorris Street. Deputies didn’t find them. Wednesday March 1 10:54 a.m.: Oops! – An accidental911 call from a business onMorris Str...
Mavrik Marine, Inc. set up shop in La Conner in 2011 with a dozen employees and has since grown to a local industry powerhouse. Their aluminum work boats include skiffs, patrol boats and gillnetters that are sent around the world after Mavrik employees carefully construct them from start to finish. Webster defines the word “maverick” as “one who takes an independent stand.” “We don’t like marching to someone else’s beat,” owner and founder Zach Battle said of his company’s name. “It can mean a l...
The La Conner Weekly News recently published two articles about the state Department of Revenue’s March 2014 guidance that advised counties to stop assessing property tax on homes, or any other structure, constructed on tribal trust land. The federal court’s ruling that spurred the guidance had a significant effect inSkagitCounty. As a result, state and local property taxes shifted from homeowners living on tribal trust property to the others in the community. I fully support the public’s right to know how my agency arrived at this guida...
Skagit Bay Search & Rescue volunteers know all about changing tides. One that has remained constant, however, is the high tide of community support the local group has enjoyed while modifying a 23-foot custom aluminum vessel acquired last year through the Guemes Island Volunteer Fire Department. Donated and discounted labor will help make possible the formal launching later this summer from La Conner Marina of the Canadian-built craft. Major and minor upgrades alike have been under way for the...
When Fred Martin arrived in La Conner on July 23, 1956, with wife Margaret and their children John and Faye, people were already lined up, anxious for the door to open at the drug store the Martins had purchased on First Street. Word had already spread quickly through town that Mr. Olson’s drugstore had new owners. That very evening Fred left Margaret settling in to the small living quarters behind the store while he attended his first meeting of the La Conner Rotary Club. Fred was to remain a R...
Longtime La Conner and Skagit Valley resident Bruce Edward Wyman died at age 66, surrounded by family and visited by friends on Monday, January 25. Bruce was born to Keith and Maxine Wyman on May 13, 1949 in Port Angeles, Washington. Two older brothers, Keith and Geoff, preceded him. The family of five moved from Port Angeles to La Conner in the summer of 1954. While Maxine worked as a registered nurse, her husband supported the family by seasons of gillnetting in Bristol Bay. Bruce attended La...
In a special election on Feb. 9, La Conner Schools will ask voters to approve more than $1 million per year in taxes to be collected in 2017 and 2018. Two new levies will replace a maintenance and operations and a technology levy that were approved by voters in 2012 and expire at the end of 2016. The maintenance and opera-tions levy helps pay for school programs like foreign language instruction, music, drama, athletic coach salaries and other benefits for children that state funding does not cover. The tech levy, first approved by voters in...
Here are some unofficial early results in the contested races affecting the La Conner area. The results will be final on Nov. 24, when the election is certified. La Conner Town Council Jacques Brunisholz ...............117 Charity Starkenburg ...............45 *Marylee Chamberlain..........123 David Ritchie .........................44 Port of Anacortes Position 3 Joe Verdoes .......................2,568 Judy Berentson ..................1,409 Position 4 *Pat Mooney .....................1,378 John Pope ..........................2,707 Port of...
La Conner’s Old-Fashioned Fourth of July, spearheaded for the past several years by B.J. Carol, has a new twist this year. In addition to the annual parade followed by an afternoon of family fun at Pioneer Park, the town and the Port of Skagit have teamed up for an evening Fourth of July concert coordinated by Linda Lipke at La Conner Marina. A fireworks show would make our holiday complete. While town residents are always treated to the display of privately purchased fireworks set off on the west side of the Swinomish Channel, the town has lin...
