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The La Conner High School football team lost its season home opener on Saturday – not to non-league opponent Forks but to poor air quality. The Braves' grid contest at Whittaker Field was nixed due to thick, stifling wildfire smoke that began hovering in the La Conner area Friday and lingered through the weekend. The Northwest Clean Air Agency Board issued a Stage 1 air quality burn ban for the Island, Skagit and Whatcom tri-county region Friday morning. That ban, separate from existing fire s...
Adding a chapter creating a Port Industrial Zone in the Town of La Conner’s Uniform Development Code will “preserve” for the long term the Port of Skagit’s La Conner Marina property for maritime industries, Port Communications Director Linda Tyler wrote in response to Weekly News questions about the Sept. 20 town planning commission hearing. The Port made a 2022 recommendation for a change to the Town’s code in January. The proposed chapter, 15.42, Port Industrial Zone, allows 60 foot tall buildings. Mavrik Marine’s expansion in 2020-2021 w...
At 104, greater La Conner resident Joyce Johnson has taken a stand for farmland. Last week she finalized, with Skagit County's Farmland Legacy Program, a conservation easement on her 57-acre property to permanently protect the land for agricultural use. "My brothers and uncle were farmers, but they never owned their land," said the longtime member of the La Conner Civic Garden Club in a county press release. "They would be so happy to know that I own this land. My father would be, too. And now...
A group of residents intend to do their civic duty and be heard at the public hearing called by the Town of La Conner Planning Commission Tuesday. The Port of Skagit submitted its recommendation last January for a new chapter creating a port industrial zone in the Town’s code. In August town planner Michael Davolio prepared a 27 page document, “Suggested 2022 Code Changes,” for the planning commission. Town residents have been preparing, also. Over 20 attended a meeting at Maggie Wilder’s Sept. 6, their second after a session at Renee and Jim...
It is mid-September. The decision train – trains, actually – are boarding. It is time to get on if you do not want to be left behind as Town of La Conner governmental entities prepare trips into 2023 – and beyond. First on the schedule is a Sept. 19 town conversation for residents to come together and talk. It is organized by La Conner Town Council’s communication committee. They want to hear from citizens and listen for celebrations, concerns, trends, hopes and ideas. It starts at 6:30 p.m. in Maple Hall. Come early the next night for the pub...
Something felt odd being outdoors Friday. The hazy heat was tempered mid-afternoon by a sky turned gray with smoke from distant wildfires. That tilted the day away from a typical end of summer northern Puget sound experience. And consider, we would have faced a hotter day if the smoke had not blocked the sun's rays. How quickly human induced climate change changes the weather. Thursday the forecast was for highs in the 80s and maybe reaching 90 degrees. At 11:15 a.m. Saturday I was switching to jeans and a long sleeve shirt as smoke created ove...
The Sept. 13 town council meeting will be over before you read this. I hope that the council will determine “who’s on first” so you know what to expect at the Sept. 20 planning commission public hearing. (This situation is described in the letter I posted on the town website. The issue is that we really don’t know what recommendations will be made for updating the town’s municipal code on the 20th and what year it will be accepted.) If you attended the council meeting or read the Sept. 21 Weekly News you will know that the town is behind on...
Padilla Bay Foundation recently held Brunch at the Bay 2022 at the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve on a beautiful PNW summer day in August. The over 100 attendees enjoyed fresh grilled oysters and other locally sourced foods, while overlooking the Bay, connecting with friends old and new, listening to great jazz and touring the aquarium and gift shop in the Breazeale Interpretive Center. The event raised funds toward a backup/emergency power supply system to protect the aquarium creatures. We celebrated the completion of the...
An opinion piece in the New York Times last week was titled “America is Being Consumed by a Moral Panic over Trans People.” If the ramifications of this weren’t so cruel, I would be tempted to laugh. What is so scary about people who identify as transgender? All that means is that their sex chosen for them at birth does not match their gender now that they are old enough to be able to say/demonstrate what their gender is. Sexual anatomy and gender may not agree. One comes from fetal development of body parts, and the other comes from the forma...
I am glad to see law enforcement action taken in the recent case of 115 puppies being held on Cape Horn Road (“Puppies Seized outside Concrete,” Skagit Valley Herald, Sept 7, 2022). It is shameful that we treat vulnerable animals as commodities without regard to their welfare. I am grateful we have a law in Washington state that regulates such puppy mills and enables law enforcement to act. However, I am dismayed that the law was passed with only one vote from our Legislative District 10 representatives. Dave Paul voted in favor and Greg Gil...
By Sara Young It’s an exciting time at the La Conner Marina. The Port of Skagit, which built and owns the Marina, has been considering the needs of this important property and future opportunities for more than 15 years. We’ve had a lot of great conversations with members of the community since our visioning presentation in May 2022 during the joint meeting with La Conner’s town council and planning commission. As the Port develops a vision and plan for the site, there will be more opportunities for public input. We also want to take some...
Fire District 13 and the Anacortes Fire Department enjoy a strong working relationship. But theirs is, in the truest sense, a limited partnership. On Thursday, Sept. 8, commissioners opted not to join Anacortes in a comprehensive operations and services study, which was designed to address the feasibility of the two departments jointly developing a fire station in the March Point area. The commission had entertained for the past month a proposal that FD 13 participate financially in the study, a plan Anacortes Fire Chief Bill Harris and former...
Off the charts: the $70,383 the Town of La Conner lists in its August sales tax revenue report is the highest total ever. The August data, from the state's Department of Revenue, captures June sales, always the highest revenue month. This year's collection is 12% above 2021's and the first time over $70,000. The year-to-date total is $446,300. The town’s 2022 budget income projection will be met next month. As in 2021, collections have set records monthly, except January’s. The $19,137 in hotel/motel revenue is the highest August collection als...
La Conner was again the second highest priced Skagit County market for homes sold in August. The median price of $633,750 for the 10 La Conner area homes that closed was above the $627,500 July median selling price, the Northwest Multiple Listing Services reported. Countywide, 180 homes and condominiums sold and closed, down from 190 last month. The median price was $515,000, 7.4% below July’s median price. The Anacortes market’s median price of $711,500 for the 34 homes closed was down 11% from July’s $800,000 median price. The count...
The coronavirus is still among us. A La Conner Weekly News staff member called late Wednesday afternoon to report a positive test and not feeling well. That was still the situation Monday. Staff started wearing masks in the office Thursday. Policy is to test before working. Those with the same test results – negative or positive – can come to work. Staff will follow federal Centers for Disease Controls protocols for coming to work. All staff members are vaccinated and have booster shots. The pandemic is not over and it is not pas...
The roster is different, but the result was the same. The defending state 2B champion La Conner High School volleyball team opened its 2022 season with an impressive triumph over 2A Anacortes at Landy James Gym Thursday, Sept. 8. The most imposing part clearly was a 13-2 run to close out the second set and erase what had been a 20-12 Seahawk lead. "It was a little setback for us," senior middle blocker Makayla Herrera said of the brief deficit midway through the match, "but we were able to come...
By Russell Chandler Local artist and poet Janet Laurel showcases unreleased work at Skagit Cellars tasting room in Gilkey Square through September. "Red Goddesses" is a curated collection, representing decades of her prolific and unseen work. Galleries in Seattle were originally hesitant to hang the work and subsequently Laurel started her own gallery when she bought a church from the steel workers union in West Seattle. Always moving on to another series, this artwork was archived for a later...
By Anna Ferdinand When Rena Priest stood before a crowd at the Lincoln theater Sept. 3, she asked attendees to answer this question: “Where do poems come from?” A theater took pen to paper, writing to the prompt for five minutes, each person free to travel the pathways down which their brains chose to meander, tracking thoughts on the page. The Skagit River Poetry Foundation, a co-sponsor of the poetry reading with Priest, Washington state’s poet laureate, helps us answer the question: For students in and around the Skagit Valley who benef...
August's annual Pioneer Picnic has provided a boost to the Skagit County Historical Museum for the year ahead. The Skagit County Pioneer Association, which for over a century has coordinated the picnic on the first Thursday in August, has contributed $3,000 to the historical museum from proceeds from the picnic. That represents the association's largest contribution to the museum in a decade and is $2,000 more than the amount donated a year ago. Former La Conner mayor Bud Moore, the pioneer...
The highlight of my summer cooking has been preparing zucchini lasagna. This recipe will feed four. I selected a uniform shaped zucchini, medium size. Plus I ventured to try my hand at using a mandolin again. This time with careful success. I prepped the zucchini first and for the center cut with seeds and pith, I cut that out. You could choose to peel the skin, but if you cut the zucchini 1/8 inch wide, the skin is not cumbersome to eat. Ricotta, as it is plain, is rather like eating clay. But...
Laynee Westbrook has not been seen in two years, but she remains a constant presence in the hearts and minds of family, friends and law enforcement officers who gather monthly for vigils to keep alive hopes she will be found. Westbrook, who worked at the Anacortes Safeway, disappeared the night of Sept. 10, 2020 after leaving the Chevron station near Swinomish Casino & Lodge. Westbrook was with a man who is believed to have driven her to his campsite at the Thousand Trails Lone Tree Point RV Res...
Monday, September 5 2:45 a.m.: Theft at boat launch – A catalytic converter was stolen off a truck at the boat launch. The owner of the truck was out fishing on the water. A possible suspect vehicle was described as a Jeep Cherokee. A license plate number was not obtained. Boat Launch Rd., Greater La Conner. 6:00 p.m.: Another theft at boat launch – A vehicle owner reported he parked his Lexus at the boat launch on Friday and when he returned on Monday, he noticed the catalytic converter was...
A bustling summer makes me think of safety and best practices. I watched a 40’ sailboat come in this week. Wind and current were both out of the north and he was docking near the head of G. He came in, way over by the marina slips, then waited to turn until he was very deep into the flat of G. He made his turn so deep I thought he was going to hit the flat, but he knew exactly where he was. He completed his turn sharply which took off all his way and he stopped exactly in his spot on the dock. His wife stepped off and dropped a line on the clea...
