La Conner celebrates!

Sandy Stokes | May 27, 20150

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Victoria Hayes, with the scissors, center left, cut the ribbon at the official opening of La Conner’s new boardwalk. Much of the town population, elected officials and several visitors from out of town attended the event. Mayor Ramon Hayes is in the white sport coat, to the right in the blue shirt, state Rep. Dave Hayes, and wearing a red coat is state Senator Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor. – Photo by Don Coyote

Saturday gave people the real feel of small town America when more than 100 town residents gathered for the dedication of La Conner’s new boardwalk.

The Skagit Community Band, featuring La Conner’s own Vince Fejeran and Amy McFeeley, provided rousing music, causing lots of toe tapping and even some spontaneous dancing.

Mayor Ramon Hayes officiated the event and introduced a speaker lineup that included our state elected officials, Sen. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor, Rep. Dave Hayes, R-Camano Island, and Rep. Norma Smith, R-Clinton. The state lawmakers were crucial to obtaining the $2.35 million in state funding that paid for the boardwalk construction.

Hayes said that when he and Town Administrator John Doyle traveled to Olympia to lobby for money to build another phase of the boardwalk, Bailey pushed for funding to finish the project all at once, rather than breaking it into additional construction phases.

The final touches on the structures were completed earlier this year.

La Conner poet Bob Skeele drew a huge round of applause when the Mayor called him up to read his poem “Boardwalk,” which includes the line “... the composite of 35 years of wishing and pulling together, now underfoot.”

Mayor Hayes noted that it had been the better part of four decades that the new boardwalk has been a dream for the town. He said resident John Kaguras, whose declining health kept him away, was one of the first people suggesting the idea those many years ago.

The north end of the boardwalk, stretching from Gilkey Square to the Lime Dock building, was actually built in the early 1990s by the late Don Olson, who redeveloped several properties in La Conner. The new portion stretches from Gilkey Square south to Calico Cupboard.

Hayes thanked many people for their roles in developing the boardwalk, including Town Administrator Doyle, who had been working on securing permits and design details for years, and the town’s Public Works Director Brian Lease and the crew, who kept the project moving along. And he thanked the town residents for their support of the project.

After the ribbon was cut by Victoria Hayes, the band kept playing a while longer. As the crowd disbursed, people started strolling along the boardwalk.

Check out a video of the event at OverSkagit.com and also on the La Conner Weekly News FaceBook page.