Heralding 2021’s unsung heroes

We are now ending our second year of the coronavirus pandemic. Sadly, it now includes the adjective, just: This is just the second year of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, a global catastrophe that we, the people, could have ended by following the leadership of competent and courageous public health professionals, putting a vaccination syringe through its heart.

Alas, we the people refused to unite. Our unwillingness to act as one makes it possible for the pandemic to roll on, mutating its way to new headlines and more preventable deaths.

Throughout year two, many sought to be rays of light and hope, as others offered solidarity and courage. Healthcare workers, with the Skagit County Public Health Department again out in front, led the way. Department staff are again recognized this year as the La Conner Weekly News 2021 unsung heroes, though this time they are sharing the stage.

For almost 22 months public health staff, by their steady, showing up everyday efforts, have worked to make normal the lives of county residents. The year started with new vaccines offering protection against the coronavirus. Public Health staff adapted, adding a vaccination clinic to the county’s fairgrounds testing site. Last summer the delta variant surged into the county and the fairgrounds testing site was opened up again.

Their messaging has always been clear: get vaccinated, in public wear a mask, keep your distance and, again, gather small. They restarted testing at the fairgrounds in October in response to residents having one of the highest infection rates among Washington counties.

While the COVID-19 case statistics in Skagit County are overwhelming, the health department has powered through. The year will end with almost 14,000 total cases since March 2020. That is over four times the 3,000-plus cases at the start of 2021.

Deaths are also four times greater than the 33 last December, sadly about to top 150. Through it all, county public health staff have sought to make our lives normal by their steady, showing up, everyday efforts.

The Town of La Conner’s public works staff was plowing streets before dawn Sunday.

Saturday they had closed off Washington Street east of Third Street in anticipation of snow and sledding.

They started the year clearing a holiday snowstorm on Valentine's Day weekend.

In between they tackled downed trees in Pioneer Park, water main leaks on Channel Drive, North Sixth Street and elsewhere, plugged potholes and did other daily tasks around town.

In 2018 Brian Lease was the Weekly News unsung hero.

This year his entire staff are recognized as well.

A deserved shoutout also goes to Danielle Freiberger and Andrea Moore, Town Hall staff who have served the public from behind a plexiglass window all year.

In 2019 La Conner Library Foundation Director Susan Macek was the Weekly News unsung hero for her weaving together the several sources of funding needed to get the La Conner Swinomish Library built.

Macek has never stopped being an unsung hero and is again recognized for her role.

Without being able to bring library supporters together for A Novel Affair or Festival of Tiny Trees in one room, she has nonetheless stayed in touch with area residents and larger donors.

The year-end holidays started with Tiny Trees decorated and displayed in almost 30 businesses around town, raising over $8,000.

Throughout 2021 Macek did more than bring dollars to the library.

She has been instrumental in supporting the new building, most visibly with the October groundbreaking ceremony.

That celebration offered the opportunity to recognize the Friends of the Library, whose thrift shop property now sites the new building’s foundation, and the La Conner Kiwanis, who remain steadfast in their efforts.

The library opens the metaphorical door to music, painting, sculpture and all the arts along with literature. Folks in the arts, reminding us of and insisting on beauty, truth, reflection and, yes, leisure, have also been our community's unsung heroes

Staff and volunteers at the Northwest Museum of Art, The Pacific Northwest Quilt and Textile Museum and the Lincoln Theatre have persevered through a second year of planning and managing the incredibly difficult issue of gathering the public – but not too many at once – together to appreciate the wide variety of events and performances they offer. In limiting audience size, they have knowingly reduced their income and increased their anxiety. The staff and volunteers of artistic organizations are unsung heroes, all.

These people, frontline directors and behind the scene toilers, serve, not for profit but for the public. Their commitment to their institutions is a commitment to the community. Their ongoing dedication is essential as we round the corner on year two of the coronavirus pandemic and head into year three. The normal, everyday life we crave is made possible by the efforts of unsung heroes who show up daily in the health department, public works and the arts.