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Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 2077
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...
No adage has been truer for Rocio Almaraz than the one that says home is where the heart is. Almaraz, who grew up in La Conner but now resides in Mount Vernon, drives her kids here each day to attend school because of the passion she has never lost for her hometown. "That's how much I love it," Almaraz, flanked by children Greyson and Mia Delage, stressed during emotional remarks made during groundbreaking ceremonies last Saturday highlighting Skagit Habitat for Humanity's new housing venture at...
The new one-way southbound traffic pattern on La Conner's First Street remained a major talking point two weeks after its implementation. Center Street resident Mollie Rights thanked town council members during their 90-minute meeting Oct. 22 for scuttling two-way traffic. "I want to thank you for making First Street one-way," Rights told council during public comments. "It's such a pleasure to drive down there now." Administrator Scott Thomas confirmed that there haven't been "any significant...
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...
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...
Halloween has morphed into Howell-oween at The Slider Café on Morris Street in La Conner. Managers Levi and Kimberly Howell have decked out the restaurant with creative and colorful decorations that celebrate the cute rather than scary elements of the otherwise spooky holiday. The Howell-oween theme has even been enlisted for their daughter Annabelle's Oct. 27 birthday party at the café. Turns out, the Howell family isn't alone when it comes to embracing the Halloween spirit. "It makes e...
Thanksgiving came a month early for members of La Conner's planning commission. Mayor Marna Hanneman expressed her thanks at their Oct. 15 meeting for the role they and others played in the conversion of downtown First Street to one-way southbound traffic. "I want to thank everyone," Hanneman said at the outset of the 75-minute public session at Maple Hall. "It's a miracle. It was a team effort on First Street." Hanneman and Fire Chief/Code Enforcement Officer Aaron Reinstra were among those...
The shorthanded La Conner Emergency Management Commission managed some heavy lifting last week. Commissioners Doug Asbe and Jerry George at their Oct. 15 meeting took a deep dive into a risk analysis of various emergency scenarios listed in a draft community Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan due for completion by the end of the year. They were joined by Administrator Scott Thomas, who called the 75-minute session “a productive meeting” after the trio discussed challenges posed by some 20 potential disaster threats ranging from storm sur...
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...
INVITATION FOR BID TOWN OF LA CONNER 2024 FIRE BOAT Sealed bid proposals will be received by the Town of La Conner for a custom fire boat. Proposals are to be delivered to the La Conner Town Hall, 204 Douglas Street, La Conner, Washington, 98257 and must be received by 3:00 p.m. on October 30, 2024, at which time proposals will be opened and publicly read. The vessel shall be a 28-foot landing craft with enclosed cab, trailer, and the ability to be powered by twin 300 HP outboard motors. The installation of a 1,000-gpm pump shall be an...
La Conner is no one-horse town. But on Saturday it was a one Brahma bull town, and proud of it. "Little Wick," a 4-year-old purebred Brahma steer, made his way that morning up the Washington Street hill, avoiding the new one-way traffic flow downtown, to take part in the opening of the much-anticipated Wick Peth exhibit at the Skagit County Historical Museum. The late Wick Peth, of a La Conner and Burlington area pioneer family, was a legendary bullfighter who brought athleticism to rodeo...
Total turn around. The $68,591 reported in sales tax revenues to the La Conner Town Council in September by the state’s Department of Revenue is the highest ever for the month, $5,315 above last year’s, and the second highest total in 2024. After below normal collection totals four of the first five months this year, sales taxes the last three months total $203,359, 42.7% of the year’s total and putting the town on course to meet this projected income for the year. Likewise, the $6,798 firetruck sales tax receipts are a record for the month...
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....
They're calling them signs of the times. Those are the traffic signs installed by the La Conner's Public Works Department alerting motorists that First Street downtown is now one-way southbound and Commercial Street's single block in front of Maple Hall has been converted to an eastbound only flow. The changes have taken some getting used to. Reaction on social media has been mixed. Some posters have praised the relative ease of driving on the narrow street even with parking spaces filled on...
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...
Building affordable housing in La Conner is a groundbreaking development, worthy of celebration. Skagit Habitat for Humanity will break ground at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 26, at its Caledonia Cottages Project at Third and Caledonia streets. The public is invited. The community event will celebrate the construction of three affordable single-family homes in La Conner with the families selected through the non-profit housing organization's Homebuyer Program. "This is a huge moment not just for...
Skagit County’s collaborative effort in the Great ShakeOut 2024 includes the county government, sheriff’s office, the cities of Anacortes, Burlington, Mount Vernon and Sedro-Woolley, the towns of Concrete, Hamilton, Lymon and La Conner, the Skagit County Fire Chiefs Association, Skagit County Dike District Consortium, Skagit 911 and Skagit County Emergency Medical Services The Great ShakeOut drill is Oct. 17 at 10:17 a.m. and aims to educate and prepare the community for the possibility of an earthquake. Tsunami sirens will sound and an ale...
STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, AND CIRCULATION Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months / No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: Mailed outside-county paid subscriptions 84/87. Mailed in-county paid subscriptions 790/796. Paid electronic copies 21/21. b. Total paid print copies + paid electronic copies: 895/817. c. Total print distribution + paid electronic copies: 1,045/967. d. Percent paid: 100%. e. Total free or nominal rate distribution 12/11. f. Total distribution: 1,057/968. g. Copies not...
I was so looking forward to learning more about the proposed revitalization of the industrial dead zone at the south end of town. I had submitted my two bits on the town survey and had great expectations. However, the turnout was not impressive and the acoustics in the room seemed to absorb the presenter’s voice. Granted, my hearing is impaired, but others also raised their hands stating they could not hear him. There was no microphone available. Unable to hear, I left. Perhaps I am unfairly comparing this event to the recent one at the Civic G...
The La Conner-based Skagit Valley Clean Energy Cooperative has changed its name to Skagit Valley Clean Energy Alliance. Its business structure has also changed. Rather than being a membership-based, non-profit cooperative like REI or Orcas Power, the SVCEA is now a non-profit 501(c)3 charitable organization. The goal of the alliance remains the same as the goal of the cooperative: Accelerate the use of renewable energy, energy conservation and related energy management technologies throughout...
A jigsaw approach was taken to solve the puzzle that is the old Moore Clark property at a Sept. 30 public forum. Attendees at the three-hour workshop at Maple Hall divided into three breakout rooms to brainstorm and then report to the whole group potential future uses for the former fish food production plant and adjoining parcels in what was once La Conner's bustling south waterfront industrial hub. The consulting team charged with drafting a plan for revitalizing the 4-acre area, which has...
The Town of La Conner Planning Commission resumed it review of updates to elements of the town’s comprehensive plan at their Oct. 1 meeting in Maple Hall. The emphasis was on changes to the land-use and transportation elements. The downtown First Street switch to one-way southbound traffic came up, a change that went into effect today. “I, for one, am convinced that making First Street one-way will be a tremendous advantage,” Planning Director Michael Davolio said. Davolio and Assistant Planner Ajah Eills said that First Street traffic flow...
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...
