Impromptu and planned progress

John Leaver's name has been in the news a lot recently. In fact, he has been in the news consistently for more than two years.

The former La Conner Town Council member took the initiative the first year of the pandemic, in the summer of 2020, organizing First on First as a volunteer promotion to bring La Conner residents to dine and shop on First Street Friday evenings when out of towners were mandated to stay home to stay healthy.

That campaign morphed into a 2021 hotel/motel tax funds proposal for a $21,000-plus Love La Conner marketing icon for Gilkey Square to keep the tourists coming.

Leaver and his fellow Firsters' efforts got ahead of town institutions and governance – the arts and planning commissions were consulted late in the process. When they weighed in on the design they gave it a thumbs down.

Leaver is to be commended for his commitment to the community. It is now seen in his appointment to the town planning commission, his second iteration of the now named Heart of La Conner flower box display proposal and his waving the flag and raising donations to feed Ukrainian refugees, an effort co-led by Jean Wedin and Joyce and Stuart Welch.

Leaver is a take-the-bull-by-the-horns person. It is not his fault La Conner is under-resourced and lacks institutional economic development management, for that is where a $21,000 proposal initially belongs, to be carefully considered and fit into a program and plan for economic development. Lacking those layers of questioning, alternatives and vetting, the "Heart of La Conner" design is being presented to the parks commission this week.

The point of this editorial is to appreciate, not criticize, John Leaver and to view the 2022 version of his initiative against earlier volunteer efforts. Last week Joan Cross shared her reminiscence of the origins of celebrating tulips in the Skagit Valley. Yes, because a merry band of La Conner residents sought to raise funds for a hospice service, “tulip pedal” bike rides were organized, starting in 1981.

Saturday's Not So Impromptu Parade is another example of a citizens' effort that bloomed into an institution. Seeded by Luke and Lila Long some 35 years ago, the annual parade was soon nurtured by the La Conner Kiwanis Club. Now the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival organization fertilizes it.

In archetypal pull-yourselves-up-by-your-bootstraps American initiative, out of neighbors’ hopes, creativity and whimsy, impromptu dreaming was embraced by the community, nurtured and over time blossomed into the month-of-April Tulip Festival and the second Saturday in April Not So Impromptu Parade. Both are examples of if-you-build-it-in-your-backyard-with-your-neighbors-and-have-a-good-time-with-it-for-the-sake-of-having-a-good-time, people will notice and success will follow.

La Conner is a town bursting with tourists year round. The record breaking sales tax revenues almost every month since October 2020 is proof of the town’s magnet power. Getting people into La Conner and having them spend lots of money, which fills the town’s coffers, is an ongoing phenomenon of undisputed value.

Given that just by being ourselves people come here, does it make sense to invest in a $21,000 tourist enhancement blessed by the town council without it growing from the bottom-up as a residents initiative?

That was heartfelt but a rush-to-solve-a-problem-that-did-not-exist top-down approach. It was well meaning but is it necessary? How might that $21,000 be better spent on tourism?