Park pavilion will be done by 'end of the year'

A time-honored adage says no job is finished until the paperwork is done.

For the Town of La Conner Parks Commission, the reverse is true when it comes to installing a much-anticipated pavilion at Conner Waterfront Park.

The pavilion project, on the drawing board for several years, has received approvals for both shoreline and building permits.

Now, it’s just a matter of working out final details with the public works department and reaching a consensus as to exactly where at the park the structure should be located.

“The pavilion is going to happen before the end of the year,” Mary Wohleb, the town council’s liaison to the commission, predicted during the advisory panel’s monthly meeting at Maple Hall last Wednesday.

“We’re so close at this point,” agreed Commission Chair Ollie Iversen. “We’ve been doing this since 2019.”

The commission has undertaken fundraising during that time frame – the La Conner Rotary Club has been a major supporter, said Iversen – and taken pains to make sure applications have been submitted and approved for all required permits.

“The day it’s finished,” Iversen said, “needs to be celebrated.”

“We should also do a ribbon-cutting,” Wohleb said.

Iversen suggested that the Skagit Community Band, directed by La Conner’s Vince Fejeran, be invited to perform at the pavilion dedication.

“Vince would be the first one to agree,” said Iversen. “They played when the boardwalk opened.”

Iversen said that he and former town administrator John Doyle will meet with an artist and a person familiar with the upkeep of the 30-year-old metallic fish slide at Carkeek Park in Seattle created by the late Tom Jay, who crafted the town’s salmon slide now in need of repairs.

“We’ll be getting together with the right people,” Iversen said. “We know what needs to be done. We just need the right materials.”

Commissioner Mike Bucy expressed optimism that a smooth plastic or metal tubing might be fitted in the slide’s interior.

“It’s possible you can find something metal that could fit in there,” Bucy suggested. “Plastic is also an option.”

Iversen, Doyle and Commissioner Martin Howard met briefly Thursday afternoon at the waterfront park slide, a favorite landmark with tourists and locals alike, to survey its exterior and interior for repair needs.

Doyle, who with Iversen has done annual grinding, sanding, painting and sealing work on the slide, cautioned that an interior tube might create a secondary maintenance issue.

“I’m real confident,” Doyle said, “that the guy who worked on the slide at Carkeek Park can provide some answers.”

The town council, after initially voting to remove the slide due to its regular maintenance needs, has since given Iversen and the parks commission the green light to pursue affordable options to keep it operational or at the very least retain the slide as a park sculpture.