Sun, salmon, memories brighten Pioneer Picnic

La Conner's Pioneer Park basked in sun, salmon and song last Thursday, a perfect combination for the 119th annual Skagit County Pioneer Association Picnic and Business Meeting here.

Ideal conditions drew more than 300 people on a sun-splashed day that honored championship La Conner High School volleyball coach Suzanne Marble and members of the Benson/Berentson family, who association president Peggy Stowe said "have been connected to every vocation imaginable" since emigrating from Norway to Skagit County – via Minnesota – more than a century ago.

Marble grew up in Spokane and attended college in California before embarking on a remarkable 30-year teaching and coaching tenure at La Conner Schools. She received the 2023 Pioneer Spirit Award.

She retired from coaching after leading La Conner to a seventh state net crown last fall and is taking a year's leave of absence that will afford her and husband Curt the opportunity to watch their daughter, Ellie, play collegiate volleyball as a freshman at Central Washington University.

Marble stressed that the relationships she built with students and players "were far more important than the state titles" in brief remarks to the audience gathered at the park amphitheater after a salmon dinner prepared by the "Good Girls" and friends and served by members of the La Conner Civic Garden Club.

Marble's career and a historical timeline of the achievements of the Benson/Berentson family – the 2023 Skagit County Pioneer Association Family of the Year – were shared on pictorial story boards displayed on by Skagit County Historical Museum Director Jo Wolfe and staff.

Many highlights and anecdotes on the Benson/Berentson story board were elaborated upon by family spokesperson Betsy Christianson. She credited her aunt, Laura Matthews, with compiling the stories of family members who across the decades have been in engaged in traditional resource-related Skagit County ventures such as farming, fishing and logging as well as publications, visual arts, commercial photography, finance and education.

Considerable space was devoted to the life and legacy of the late Duane Berentson, a standout student-athlete at Anacortes High School. He became a successful teacher and coach at Burlington-Edison High School before launching a successful political career, including long service in the Washington State House of Representatives and as the state's secretary of transportation.

The Hwy. 20 twin-spanned bridge crossing Swinomish Channel is named for him.

Bensons and Berentsons attended in equal numbers. All trace their Norwegian roots to brothers Atlag Bernsten Dragaland and Anton Bernsten Dragaland, each of whom was born in the early 19th century. Thus, the title of their story board: "We Are All One Family."

Christianson outlined the perseverance of Berent Anton ("Big Ben") Benson, who had fished Lake Superior and that area's forests when the lake froze over prior to his arrival in Skagit County. He connected here with John Ball of the La Conner and Whitney areas, then with partners farmed near Edison, logged around Sedro-Woolley and developed a fish trap off Lummi Island.

"Ben," said Christianson, "was a pioneer in many ways."

Christianson finds the pioneer spirit – a willingness to try new things – is inherent in all people.

"Every time a child is born," she said, "we have a new pioneer. Everyone is a pioneer in something."

Attendees joined in that chorus with a sing-along of patriotic and popular Pioneer Picnic tunes led by vocalist Faye Whitney. Praises were also sung in recognition of work undertaken on behalf of the association by Stowe, past president Dan Royal and past treasurer Bud Moore, a La Conner resident and former mayor.

Immediate Past Pioneer Association President Liza Peth Bott saluted each publicly during her segment of program. All received a loud round of applause.

Incoming Pioneer Association President Loren Dahl, Jr. closed the afternoon's business meeting by bringing matters full circle – offering a personal reflection on his connections to the Berentson wing of the family.

"The reason our family is here," Dahl said, "is because of the Berentsons. Without the Berentsons, the Dahls wouldn't be in this area."

This year's Picnic was believed to be one of the best attended in recent years, certainly since the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced cancellation of the 2020 gathering. The picnic, a favorite all-county tradition, is traditionally held each first Thursday in August.