La Conner Weekly News - Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper

No building permit has yet been issued, but excavation began at the 306 Center Street condominium project site last week to find the water table on the property so that paperwork could be completed for removal of contaminated soil. Following that ini...

Local grocery shoppers pause and compare prices. They add up the rising costs of food and wonder how they will afford their next meal. This is how Arin Magill, director of the La Conner Sunrise Food Bank, defines food insecurity: concern about where...

Don’t let December’s rain, gray skies or fields of standing water distract you into thinking it has rained a lot. November maintained 2023’s pattern of rainfall below the monthly century’s norms. While precipitation came down 22 days, half of thos...

Holiday Closures Christmas Monday, Dec.25 Closed: Everything Bank: Closed Buses: No service Library: Closed Post Office: Closed Schools: Till Jan 3 Town Hall: Dec 22-26 County government: Closed Trash Pick Up: None Weekly News: Closed And God bless... Full story

Tomorrow, Dec. 21, is the solstice, the shortest day of the year. In BCE, Before the Common Era, and for all the centuries in our Common Era, people have celebrated the end of the year’s dark period and the beginning again of the coming of the l...

We, tell – and listen to – stories for a reason. Way before the internet or radio or even telegraph lines, communities collectively gathered around the campfire to both tell each other the important stories of the day and to recall and pass down myt... Full story

Did you know that in Skagit County only 2% of the farms in the valley are over a thousand acres? Did you also know that 41% of farms in Skagit County are noted as residential or lifestyle farms, aka hobby farms? The face of farming has changed:... Full story

The Puget Sound Partnership recently released its biennial State of the Sound report concluding that while, overall, Puget Sound is holding on, its recovery remains uncertain (Puget Sound Partnership: State of the Sound (wa.gov)). This very mixed... Full story

Kudos to the editor for being willing to post a letter in last week’s issue that, I suspect, did not align with his perspective. This gives credence to his professed belief that a free press, uncensored, is best and open communication can, h... Full story

Four-term La Conner Mayor Ramon Hayes chaired his final town council meeting Dec. 12, but it was a business-as-usual session with no celebration or reception. Hayes wouldn’t have had it any other way. “It’s just not my personality,” he told the Wee...

It’s been said that an ill wind blows no good. In the case of the Skagit County Fire District 13 coverage area, which entails Swinomish Reservation and rural La Conner, a facsimile windstorm at the end of March is designed to do plenty good. P...

It’s often said that to everything there is a season. For La Conner’s emergency management commission, that means development of a comprehensive guide addressing all disaster scenarios. “We’ve been working on flooding issues hot and heavy for qui...

It was junior cheer night at Landy James Gym last Friday. And the La Conner High School girls’ basketball team gave both the youth cheerleaders and a large crowd plenty to applaud. Maeve McCormick scored a game-high 26 points, Shaniquah Casey f...

The atmosphere was electric at the Dec. 11 La Conner School board meeting. Campus solarization options lit up the room. La Conner Town Council member MaryLee Chamberlain and resident Bob Raymond, of the Skagit Valley Clean Energy Cooperative, provide...

Coming off his selection as the Skagit Valley Herald Boys’ Athlete of the Week, La Conner’s Brayden Pedroza provided Braves fans an impressive encore at Landy James Gym Friday night. The junior guard dazzled with an array of shots on his way to a g...

From mid-August through early November, daylight in the Pacific Northwest decreases by about three minutes per day. When the winter solstice arrives on Dec. 21 there is only 8.5 hours of daylight. This is an excellent time to start an indoor growing...

OLYMPIA —Begin the new year with Washington State Parks during their annual First Day Hikes Jan. 1, 2024. Over 20 of the more than 40 state parks participating are in northwest Washington. Choose between staff-led and self-guided hikes, snowshoe e...

The 2023 Town of La Conner budget has met its $5.8 million revenue goal with December not yet counted. Even better, expenditures, now at $4.55 million, are likely to finish below 67% of projections. The budget surplus is $1.23 million and may still...

NOT TO BE MISSED The Town of La Conner December 26, 2023, Council Meeting has been CANCELED. Go to www.townoflaconner.org for current information and sign up for “Notify Me”. The Stanwood Area Historical Society presents: Jazzin’ with the Class...