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Sorted by date Results 378 - 402 of 2077
Expect to see an exciting array of art when Art's Alive opens at Maple Hall this Friday at 1 pm. "Northwest Focus," this year's theme, was inspired by poster artist, greater La Conner resident and Town of La Conner Arts Commission member Craig Barber. "Craig's work in photography brought the word focus into it and all our artists are Northwest regional artists," said Sheila Johnson. She is a board member of the La Conner Arts Foundation, the 501c3 organization that plans and produces the show...
The one contested election for greater La Conner voters in 2023, between John Agen and Janie Beasley for La Conner School District Director Position 2 has Agen with 453 votes, 53.7% after the first vote tally Nov. 7, ahead by 68 votes. Beasley received 385 votes, 45.7%. All Town of La Conner candidates did not have opposition and won: Marna Hanneman for mayor, has 170 votes; Annie Taylor, appointed in 2021, for council position 1, has 162; and Mary Wohleb, an incumbent, 169. They take their...
At the public hearing Nov. 14 on the Town of La Conner’s proposed 2024 budget be prepared to discuss the record $6.98 million in revenues and the $8 million in expendituresa, a deficit budget of just over $1 million. It is balanced by tapping the reserve fund balance of $5.5 million. As in recent years, the bulk of the projected revenue, $3.7 million comes from the four wastewater funds. These programs account for over half the costs, $4.2 million. The street fund is projected to take in $1.2 million and spend $1.3 million. The current e...
It is a week after the school children of La Conner and many of their parents, families and friends swarmed up First Street in the town’s annual Halloween parade. Last weekend kids of all ages were on stage at the Lincoln Theatre, performing as Munchkins, crows, poppies, snowflakes and many more imaginative characters in wonderful performances of “The Wizard of Oz.” These are exactly the activities every child everywhere needs to be engaged in. How fortunate and privileged these Skagit Valley families are to enjoy these opportunities. And,...
The need for electric vehicle charging infrastructure will inevitably increase. People who don’t want EVs now because their initial cost is too high or their range is too low will re-evaluate that decision periodically. Some people will change their minds as EVs improve. We’ve seen this movie before and we know how it ends. When Japanese cars arrived in the U.S., only loony west coast liberals wanted them. Detroit’s Big Three laughed them off. Over the next 20 years, Japanese cars impro...
In the article “Paid downtown parking an option” last week (Nov. 1), I want to make a slight correction and offer my two cents on the subject. Correction: The company making a presentation to a joint council-planning commission meeting on Nov. 28 will not be marketing “metered” parking. The solution that will be presenting requires no infrastructure (meters) aside from approximately 25 signs which his company would furnish as part of their start-up. Their parking solution is digital, cellphone based, which allows for expansion and providi...
The Problem: Vehicles parking on First Street for extended periods of time during high tourist traffic periods. Who are the primary offenders? Business owners and employees. First Street residents. Hotel guests. (All of whom should be parking off First Street during business hours.) Simplest solution: Two hour parking limit, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily and April thru September only. Why not paid parking? 1) Parking is a minimal problem October thru March 2) Pay kiosks would be detrimental to First Street’s historic character. 3) It would discourage l...
It is time to speak up on Town of La Conner budget and tax issues. The town council will hold four public hearings at its Nov. 14 meeting to consider: 1. Formation of a Transportation Benefit District. 2. 20-year Transportation Improvement Plan updates. 3. 2024 preliminary budget. 4. 2024 property tax levy. The public hearings will be held during the 6 p.m. regular city council meeting in Maple Hall, second floor, 204 Commercial Street. Public comments are welcome, written or oral. Submit written comments by email prior to the meeting, by 12...
Unity is a key part of the word community. That theme was stressed throughout the annual La Conner Young Life Dessert Fundraiser held Sunday night in the elementary school commons area. A wide cross-section of folks from in and around La Conner, representing the town, agricultural, Swinomish, Shelter Bay, Snee-Oosh and Fir Island communities attended the two-hour event, supporting the faith-based program that provides summer camp and monthly social and personal growth opportunities for local...
La Conner school board member John Agen increased his lead over former District 2 Director Jeanie Beasley to 120 votes. He now has 54.4% to Beasley's 45.1% after this second vote report Thursday from the Skagit County Elections Office staff. Agen led by 68 votes Tuesday. While county staff estimate 9,000 votes remain to be tallied countywide, it is not known how many La Conner school district ballots remain to be counted. Twelve hundred and ninety three residents have voted in this election. In 2019, Marlys Baker's win over Beasley brought out...
The application for the three-story condominiums and first floor rentals at 306 Center Street needs to be revised to meet the town’s code height requirement, Town of La Conner Planning Director Michael Davolio wrote property owner Bandon Atkinson at 10:50 p.m. Oct. 24. “[Y]our design plans appears to show an elevator shaft that exceeds the town’s 30’ height limit. This drawing will not be approved.” Davolio’s communication might have been prompted by questions at the town council meeting earlier that evening. Residents Linda Talman and Leslie...
Last week I talked about electric vehicle chargers in rural British Columbia. Charger availability there is still improving. Flo.com’s map shows that the charger in Woss, BC (population about 200), has been upgraded since Jenelle and I traveled there about a year ago. Woss now has a Level 3 (fast, 50 kilowatt) charger, with two Level 3 plugs. It’s about 40 miles from the nearest larger town, Port McNeill (population about 2,000). Port McNeill also has a public Level 3 charger. For ref...
Historic First Street could look different in the future as Town officials ponder proposals ranging from one-way traffic flow, occasional pedestrian only access and angled and paid parking downtown. Those are options being discussed in the review and update of the transportation element of La Conner’s comprehensive plan. A presentation on paid parking infrastructure will be made at a joint town council-planning commission meeting Nov. 28 at Maple Hall. Staff from at least one firm marketing metered parking are expected to attend. “There sho...
The Town’s saltwater flood barriers are nearly all in place ahead of king tide season, but for La Conner’s six-member Emergency Management Commission the heavy lifting is just getting started. The panel has focused primarily on short-term flood mitigation this year. It shifted attention during the second half of its one-hour Oct. 24 hybrid session at Maple Hall to long-range preparedness strategies along the waterfront. The commission endorsed a potential cooperative venture between the Town, Port of Skagit and Swinomish Tribal Community to...
La Conner Rotary Club members and La Conner parks commissioners joined forces the morning of Oct. 19, planting tulip bulbs in nine wine barrels inside the roundabout east of town. Special care was used as some of the bulbs planted are individually donated "Ethan Smiles" bulbs. They are in the three barrels located at the points of the roundabout as you drive into it from any direction. The remainder of the six barrels were planted using bulbs purchased from the Roozens at Washington Bulb...
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Town of La Conner will hold four (4) Public Hearings on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023 to consider each of the following: 1. Formation of the Transportation Benefit District. 2. 20 Year TIP Updates. 3. 2024 Preliminary Budget. 4. 2024 Property Tax Levy. The Public Hearings will be held during the 6 p.m. regular city council meeting located at 204 Commercial Street (Upper Maple Center). The Public Hearings shall be for the purpose of receiving public comments, written or oral. Written comments are to be submitted by...
Having committed to a new K-12 math curricula that has already paid dividends in terms of improved student achievement, La Conner school board members Monday also reaped the benefits of that investment. The five-member panel was saluted as a School Board of Distinction among Washington state’s small enrollment districts for its embrace of the ambitious new math initiative and implementation of Professional Learning Communities, Universal Design for Learning and other innovative programs. The announcement was made via Zoom by Tricia Lubach, dire...
Every year, we have a public Halloween festival – where kids parade through town in their outfits and go from shopfront to shopfront to get their candy loot. Sure, some families keep sweets at home in case anyone shows up in the evening, but trick-or-treating isn’t really a custom here. Newcomers are baffled by this. A lot of old-time residents just accept it as one of La Conner’s many quirks. Why do we have a public party instead of trick-or-treating? Only a few know the true origin story. Here it is: My grandfather and his friends got it ba...
Autumn has arrived and settled in. The leaves are falling, the snow geese are returning and farm stand stock is thinning. The fresh produce season is transitioning. The farm stand at Hedlin's Family Farm officially closes on Halloween, but it may open on occasion in the days following. La Conner Gardens remains open all year as long as they have produce available. It also will continue at the Anacortes Farmers Market through their season ending Oct. 28. This season has been good for area...
David and Lynette Cram are united in both marriage and their shared love of La Conner Schools, where they first forged career plans and were taught the value of public service. The Crams, both La Conner alumni, have since college taken on various leadership roles with their hometown school district, he twice on the administrative team and she as a coach, sports trainer and school board member. David Cram began his second tour as the La Conner Schools finance chief in March, enlisted to stanch a bleeding budget pierced by successive years of...
This completes the two-part look at Ramon Hayes time as La Conner's mayor For 16 years while mayor of the Town of La Conner, Ramon Hayes has championed the successes teamwork has created, deflecting attention from himself. He did it again in August at the La Conner Rotary Club's annual dinner and auction. When the chapter presented the Paul Harris Fellow recognition to him, a $1,000 contribution to the national Rotary Foundation in Hayes' name, he recognized another accomplishment. He – t...
Town officials and La Conner residents have spent a long time discussing short-term rentals. Which has been part of the plan all along – and going forward. The needle inched further toward defining short-term rentals and reaching consensus on whether regulations governing them should be modified during an Oct. 17 forum at the Civic Garden Club attended by more than 30 people. "We were excited about the turnout," Assistant Planner Ajah Eills told the Weekly News afterward. "We hope that the m...
Like La Conner, Langley is a tourist town on the Salish Sea, on the southeast coast of Whidbey Island. La Conner's planning commissioners, staff and Councilmember Marylee Chamberlain, along with a couple of citizens, met with architect and "pocket neighborhood" designer Ross Chapin Oct. 19 to hear his views on "strong towns: resliant small towns(with) great design (and) compact" based on his 40 year career, Planning Director Michael Davolio's goal was "to provide the Planning Commission with...
Voters living in the La Conner School District have one choice on their ballot in the school board race for the District 2 director. John Agen, elected to the District 1 position in 2019, has moved into the district. Janie Beasley, defeated in her 2019 reelection for that seat, is running again. No other local race is contested. Residents have to decide to vote their approval or not mark their ballots in these local elections: La Conner School District Alana Quintasket, District 1 Kim Pedroza, District 4 Town of La Conner Marna Hanneman, mayor...
Like loons calling across the water, like Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," the Swinomish Canoe Family hushed the crowd of 150 people as they sang and drummed a blessing prayer, the chorus meandering its way from the majestic totem outside into the La Conner Swinomish Library Saturday afternoon. The building felt just a little more hallowed. And crowded. Whew! There were a lot of people there. The pole, made from a 400-year old western red cedar, carved by Kevin Paul and assisted by his son-in-law...
