Musing -- on the editor's mind

This is my sixth month in La Conner. I am a newcomer. Some 13 years ago Sandy Stokes was new to town. Soon she was co-publishing the newspaper and did so for ten years.

Folks are rightfully proud of La Conner schools. Yet Tim Bruce, like Whitney Meissner, was once new. At his start 27 years ago he inherited a very different school system than today’s.

Scott Thomas comes to work in January to a very stable town government. Many remember how chaotic the council and mayor could be before John Doyle became town administrator in 2008.

Kim Broadhead’s Stompin’ Grounds coffeehouse is more different then the same from past coffee places at that location.

Things change. The only real constant is change. Change might creep in like an unusually clear and dry summer or it might wreak havoc like a hurricane.

The Town planning commission is making the first revision of the town’s comprehensive plan since 2005. Who knew the Town had a comprehensive plan? What does the plan mean and do? How does it affect individual or business decisions?

Once La Conner had pea canneries and manufactured boats. Those are now way past tense memories.

And then there’s the favorite recollection of all: the 1890s Saloon. For a taste of that today, go to the Old Edison Inn Sunday evenings. Bring your dancing shoes, with or without a partner.

Seems to me that actively planning and shaping the town’s future toward a common dream and vision provides citizens more agency then letting the tides of change wash through. We can live out our quotidian – a great word, fitting perfectly here – lives, or we can reach toward jazzing things up a bit.

Meg Holgate said she feels that La Conner is on the cusp of change. We are, of course. The questions are, what will that change be, what will precipitate it, who will lead, who will help, who wants it, and will it be shaped by a common hope and vision?