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Ready or not, here comes the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. The Mount Vernon Kiwanis are firing up the grill for their annual salmon barbecue, which starts this Saturday, April 1. The four local flower venues are standing by. The Roozengaarde staff are ready to guide visitors to the display garden, five tulip fields (featuring a million bulbs!) and parking. Tulip Town's Opening Weekend is all about dogs. The Seattle Barkery will offer a dog treat bar, photographer John Melicor will take portraits...
Shelter Bay residents face a weekend of board conflicts aired. Friday morning five Shelter Bay Community board of directors are in Skagit County Superior Court. Plaintiff’s Jan Henrie’s civil complaint accuses them of malfeasance and violating their statutory fiduciary duty. The lawsuit filed March 15, Jan Henrie vs. Wendy Poulton, Elaine Dixon Monte Hicks, Joseph1 Hurley and Louise Kari, has a March 31 hearing. Cases start at 9:30 a.m. The case number is 23-2-00221-29 The board filed a liability insurance claim and again has Seattle att...
Just months after stepping down as transportation director at La Conner Schools, Kim Pedroza is back, the newest member of the district’s board of directors. Pedroza was selected by board members last Thursday to fill the unexpired term of Lynette Cram, who the Town of La Conner director district seat when her husband, David Cram, became deputy superintendent of finance, human resources and operations. This director position is on the ballot for a full four-year term in November. Retired Dunlap Towing tugboat skipper and former La Conner F...
A Weekly News unsung hero is singing her swan song as chief administrator of the La Conner Library Foundation. Susan Macek, whom this newspaper heralded in 2019 for her tireless fundraising efforts to build the new La Conner Swinomish Library on Morris Street, is stepping down Friday from the helm of the not-for-profit entity she has piloted for almost a decade. "It's nice to be able to hand off the baton," said Macek, who looks forward to traveling with her husband, Dave Buchan, while...
Finding out who slew the Slough Swindler, the La Conner Chamber of Commerce’s participatory mystery theatre event last Saturday, was relatively easy. Several people figured it out and the winner was chosen by lot. He got a grand prize package of La Conner tourist goodies. Everyone went home happy. Solving the problems the Shelter Bay Community faces will not be nearly so easy, may not end at a prescribed time and the outcome is not certain. This is a drama still playing out. It may be dramatic but it is certainly a mess. The five executive c...
These are tough times that will definitely be noted in our history books. Crime and violence are at all time highs (which can be seen as big lows). Many small businesses have shut down and many big businesses have scaled down. COVID-19 will go down in our history books as an extremely challenging event. These are especially trying times for highly overactive people like myself who hate looking at the calendar in their phones and finding not much scheduled. But contemplation can have an upside,...
After my decision to run for the Shelter Bay Community board of directors a year ago, I set a goal to read all of the governing documents, including the association’s Rules and Regulations, cover to cover. I studied HOA educational videos and used my own funds to pay for seminars. I listened to attorneys’ lectures on the fiduciary duty of Care, Loyalty and Obedience. I familiarized myself with HOA infrastructure, liability insurance, management and current state statutes for Common Interest Communities, HOAs and Non-profit Corporations. I lea...
One of the biggest expenses of new home construction in locations more than a few hundred yards away from existing energy infrastructure is the cost of connecting electricity and gas. Electric power distribution wires can cost up to a million dollars a mile for underground service and up to $100,000 a mile for above-ground. New gas lines use less expensive materials, but still require mobilization of construction equipment and installation labor. Upstream of the vicinity of the new building(s),...
History and mystery abound in equal measure at the Limedock Building on North First Street. The La Conner Planning Commission, upon recommendation of Town planner Michael Davolio, opted last Tuesday to take no immediate action on a proposed conversion of second floor office space into two new residential units at the aged – if not officially historic – waterfront structure. The plan includes external work: the addition of two gabled dormers on the roof and a ground level coffee shop as a gateway to the building’s commercial ventures. But quest...
The high tide of last week’s Town of La Conner Planning Commission meeting on future sea level rise came when Assistant Planner Ajah Eills calmed the waters– make that, concerns– raised by troubling data gleaned from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “By 2070, if we do nothing,” Eills initially cautioned while sharing statistics, “the town will be underwater.” She then offered solace. “These are kind of scary numbers to look at,” she said, “but that’s without mitigation, w...
The Skagit Valley’s environment and economy has been shaped over time by changes in our climate and land use. Some of these changes have resulted in devastating impacts to our communities, including floods, heat waves, droughts and wildfires. In 2021, our farmers and farmworkers witnessed one of their driest years with record low rainfall in spring and a vicious heat wave in summer. By late July, the Washington Department of Ecology issued a drought emergency as farmers dealt with dry conditions...
Bigger isn’t necessarily better. La Conner High School’s Tommy Murdock proved that statement beyond doubt Friday, punctuating it with an exclamation point by sweeping the hurdles events at the Bedlington Twilight Track & Field Meet in Lynden, where the reigning State 2B champion fended off challengers from larger schools. Murdock, competing against 1A-3A hurdlers, cruised to twin wins in the 110s (0:16.23) and 300s (0:41.46), a feat all the more impressive when you consider he had done the same just two days prior at an NW1B/2B League meet at...
Kennedy Miller, a La Conner High School senior, is the Soroptimist Honored Student for the month of March. Kennedy is a very hardworking student and volunteer. She helps coach her younger sister, Maddy's La Conner Middle school basketball team. She also is a National Honor Society member and a member of the Swinomish Tribal Youth Council. As a Tribal Youth Council member, Kennedy works on beach clean-up teams and helps to serve at Swinomish elder dinners. She has been playing volleyball since mi...
Former La Conner High School state golf title winner Emma Worgum is back on the links after a superb fall freshman season with the Western Washington University women's team. Worgum and the Lady Vikings placed ninth out of 15 teams entered in the spring opener Fujikura Invitational Tournament hosted by Cal State-San Marcos in Vista, CA. earlier in March. Worgum tied for the second best finish on her team and was 40th overall by carding a two-day score of 160, shooting 80 (8 over par) each...
On the University of Washington dean’s list for the spring 2022 quarter are La Conner area residents Geraldine Grace Costello, a senior; Daniel Andre Knudson, sophomore; and freshmen Keridwyn Mayetta Bray and Macquaid Riley Clothier Hiller. Source: UW...
April is National Poetry Month and Pelican Bay Books in Anacortes has a full line up of poets coming every Saturday, along with music and some local student poets. Start time is 7 p.m. and lasts through about 8:30 p.m. The line up: April 8th: Alice Derry and Kate Reavey are crossing over from Port Townsend on the ferry, both reading from new books. April 15th: Claudia Castro Luna, Kathleen Flenniken, both former Washington poet laureates, and the wonderful Susan Rich, all coming up from Seattle. They participated in last October’s Skagit R...
Join in, as part of the La Conner Kiwanis Not So Impromptu Parade or by standing on the curb as it goes up First Street April 8 at 2 p.m. Shriners will once again lead the parade. Parade Check-in/Registration is at the La Conner Marina south basin parking lot at State and North Third streets at 12:30 p.m. Staging is at 1:30 p.m. To enter, get the registration form from the Genuine Skagit Valley website: genuineskagitvalley.com/events/ and email it to [email protected]. Or, download it, fill it out and show up April 8. The registration...
Visiting the flower fields during the Tulip Festival in April should be an enjoyable event, not a day spent stuck in traffic. Make your trip pleasant by preparing for congestion, planning alternate routes and understanding the area. Exit 230 from I-5 to SR 20 is a great option for anyone traveling from points north of Skagit County, or those from the south who want to avoid congestion in town. You can head west on SR 20 to SR 536 or take a left on your choice of Skagit County roads to reach the flower fields. Exit 221 from I-5: Head west...
A no fuss recipe to cook kale. It's softened just enough. I used curly kale and left in the rib of each leaf, cutting just the stem at the bottom. I freeze the raw stems to later make vegetable broth. Flavors and seasoning added after the kale is cooked. The lemon adds tartness. A great way to get leafy greens into your diet, during any season. Ingredients Curly kale, two bunches Water, one cup Vegetable bouillon, 1 tbsp Lemon, ½ fresh squeezed juice Salt, to taste Preparation I used a...
Monday, March 20 9:00 a.m.: Suspicious following – A suspicious driver and passenger in a white truck followed a citizen to La Conner. The citizen first noticed the white truck parked at a vacant farm in Mt. Vernon and thought it looked out of place. The citizen took a picture of the truck, and they started following him. The truck turned and discontinued following when they got near the Town Hall. Douglas St., La Conner. Tuesday, March 21 4:13 a.m.: Saving a duck – A motorist driving on the roa...
It's no mystery that combining costumed actors, fun and suspense will draw a crowd. That what happened in La Conner Saturday, when the town's Chamber of Commerce's "The Case of the Slain Slough Swindler," unfurled across Morris and First streets throughout the day. Huge crowds came out on a sunny, yet blustery spring day. Businesses dotted along the Swinomish Channel had people lined out the door during lunchtime and there was a buzzing of suspicion in the air. Who murdered the fictional...
