Heather Carter leaving La Conner Chamber

Heather Carter, who planted the seeds that germinated into La Conner’s Daffodil Festival, is leaving the Chamber of Commerce to help grow a new Camano Island non-profit venture.

Her last day as director is June 17.

"I have real mixed emotions,” Carter, told the Weekly News. The spokesperson for the La Conner business community since 2013 said she has thoroughly enjoyed her time in La Conner and finds the move bittersweet.

The new job allows the 23-year resident of Stanwood to work closer to home at a time when her daughter, Lily, will soon be a senior at Stanwood High School. Her son, Aidan, is currently studying radiology at Everett Community College.

“As your kids get older,” said Carter, “your priorities change.”

Carter declined to talk about her new position, preferring instead to reflect upon her time here.

She arrived in town after taking on Tulip Festival projects in Mount Vernon.

When an opening at the La Conner Chamber office popped up, it proved an ideal fit for her background in tourism and marketing. She soon benefited from mentoring provided by Marci Plank, her predecessor as chamber director, and business owner Cathie Wyman.

“They were so awesome,” she said.

The timing could not have been better.

“When I came in,” Carter said, “we had pretty much recovered from the Great Recession and things were looking promising with the boardwalk coming in.”

Soon after came the launching of the La Conner Daffodil Festival, created to highlight the daffodils that bloom before tulips each spring and add March to the local tourism season.

“It was pretty early in my tenure,” she said. “and the feeling was why aren’t the daffodils getting some love?”

Carter and the Chamber did not stop there. Brew on the Slough and the La Conner Birding Showcase followed.

Still, there have been obstacles, Carter conceded.

Topping that list was the COVID-19 pandemic which triggered some grim realities.

With local businesses suffering, the Chamber was forced to vacate its Morris Street visitor’s center. Fortunately, said Carter, the town made space available at Maple Hall for a Chamber office and information hub, an arrangement that was in place for two years, until April, when the Chamber moved back to Morris Street, this time in the former Pransky building.

But the virus crisis also spawned innovation and creativity – most evident in encouraging online shopping – that has seen local sales and hotel-motel tax revenues rebound splendidly.

“La Conner became one of the destinations that people wanted to visit and was easy to get to,” Carter said. “They came to enjoy the outdoors and things opened up and we saw a resurgence of small-town Americana.”

La Conner’s unique landscape, as Carter calls it, proved attractive to visitors seeking a mini-vacation.

“It’s a great opportunity,” she said. “I wish the best of luck to the new chamber director.”