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Saying goodbye is never easy. Because of that, La Conner schools softened the departures of those retiring or leaving the district for other jobs with a two-hour farewell celebration heavy on humor at the elementary campus Thursday afternoon. District Maintenance Director Brian Masonholder set the tone in paying tribute to his aunt, custodian Sandy Rowland, retiring after 24 years at La Conner Schools. “She’s the only La Conner Schools employee,” said Masonholder, “who has changed my diaper.” Superintendent Rich Stewart, leaving after ser...
Anna Cook is getting back to her roots on many levels. The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community member, a La Conner high school alum who went on to earn a degree from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, is a vocal advocate for food sovereignty through her work with the acclaimed 13 Moons project. She was drawn to the cause in great part by her family’s involvement in hosting plant workshops. Her interest grew further after starting college. Today, as a result of her affiliation with 13 Moons a...
Saturday was bright and sunny, a perfect day for a doubleheader plus extra innings at Hedlin’s Ballfield. But for La Conner baseball fans, even that would not have been enough. The last inning has been played at a time-honored site and a local tradition is over. Decades of memories fleetingly intersected with the exploits of today’s youth in the two and a half hours that breezed by much too quickly on the final day of action at the historic sports venue on Maple Avenue. Well attended mor...
La Conner High School has held commencement exercises for more than a century. But this year graduation is truly the hottest ticket in town. Due to COVID-19 protocols, each graduate is allotted only eight tickets for family and friends to attend the high school’s 127th annual commencement 5 p.m. Friday at Whittaker Field. For those without tickets, the June 18 event will be livestreamed, said Principal Kathy Herrera. Still, the situation is much more favorable than it was 12 months ago. ...
Family members of the La Conner High School graduating class of 2021 will attend this year’s graduation ceremonies Friday at 5 p.m in the football stadium. Teachers and staff will be there, but few others. Attendance is limited to keep people safe from the last vestiges of the coronavirus, not quite wrung out of our community or society at large. The 54 teens – the largest graduating class in years – will graduate together, sitting shoulder to shoulder, throwing their hats in the air en masse, getting to hug and kiss each other, a...
La Conner officials are accelerating plans to curb speeding traffic here. The Town Council has bypassed a potentially lengthy cost analysis process and authorized Public Works Director Brian Lease and Town Administrator Scott Thomas to immediately begin crunching numbers on expenses related to use of digital speed signs in high traffic volume areas. The Council is leaning toward installation of at least two permanent signs, though Sgt. Jeff Willard, head of the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office La Conner Detachment and Undersheriff Chad Clark h...
Barbara Sue Fjarlie, 83, of La Conner passed away on 8 June 2021 of complications following a head injury suffered in late 2020. Barbara was born 30 June 1937 in Seattle to Gladys and George Cowen. Her family moved around the Seattle metro area. Barbara graduated from Lake Washington High School in 1955 and moved to Biloxi, Mississippi soon after to help her older sister June with childcare. In Biloxi, Barbara met a young airman, Darryl Handy, whom she later married. With Darryl, she had three...
The La Conner High girls’ basketball team earned an A for effort in its close home loss to Burlington-Edison last Tuesday, June 8. The Lady Braves received an A for results when they soundly defeated Lynden in another highly anticipated non-league hoop matchup, again at Landy James Gym two nights later. Together, the hard-fought, highly competitive games proved that 2B La Conner could more than hold its own against top 2A foes from the vaunted Northwest Conference. Burlington-Edison (7-3) e...
High school and college graduates always look sharp this time of year in their caps and gowns. But for true style points, it is hard to beat La Conner’s Swinomish high school graduates, who were decked out in colorful blankets, traditional cedar hats and eagle feathers for special pre-commencement ceremonies at Swadabs Landing Park last Wednesday. There was plenty of substance, too. Prayer warriors and Swinomish senators provided congratulations and words of encouragement to the community’s 202...
Family members of the La Conner High School graduating class of 2021 will attend this year’s graduation ceremonies Friday at 5 p.m in the football stadium. Teachers and staff will be there, but few others. Attendance is limited to keep people safe from the last vestiges of the coronavirus, not quite wrung out of our community or society at large. The 54 teens – the largest graduating class in years – will graduate together, sitting shoulder to shoulder, throwing their hats in the air en masse, getting to hug and kiss each other, a...
Thursday La Conner High School’s seniors paraded and were feted from the time La Conner’s iconic 1941 Ford white firetruck and accompany Hook & Ladder Department vehicle fleet left the schoolgrounds parking lot to the end of the parade, bookended with another firetruck, at the Town’s Maple Hall. Seniors waved from car moonroofs, backs of pick up trucks,trailers and, of course, convertibles. A variety of classic cars, from vintage corvettes to old mustangs, were joined by Fire District 13 fire...
Local history will be shared well into the future thanks to a La Conner student’s research. Rachel Cram, a La Conner high junior, is scripting audio recordings that with the press of a finger on a smartphone will provide anecdotal details about some of the town’s more historic downtown buildings. Cram will present her project, which places optical sign labels on buildings, at the June 15 Town Planning Commission meeting. Each QR code contains building specific historical information. Town Pla...
It usually is not a good sign when a basketball team has just one defensive rebound in the first quarter and only 14 for the game. But that was not the case for the unbeaten La Conner High girls’ basketball team Saturday at Landy James Gym. The Lady Braves played such good defense against NW2B rival Friday Harbor that the visitors turned the ball over repeatedly and rarely got good shots at the hoop. Thus, there were not rebounds off the defensive glass to be grabbed. La Conner (9-0) remained a...
A La Conner High School student group was to have taken a science field trip to the beach last Tuesday on what would have been a perfect warm and sunny outing. But, as has been the case for more than a year, COVID-19 protocols forced a change in plans. Thankfully, due to the adaptability of La Conner school district and the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve staffs, students in the Between Two Worlds Indigenous Science class could still enjoy the beach life. Padilla Bay’s Annie English and Madi McKay brought forage fish eggs to t...
Efforts to find an alternative to historic Hedlin’s Ballfield as a local youth sports venue have apparently made it to first base. The La Conner School District will provide a secondary diamond between Whittaker Field and the high school varsity softball field for youth sports next year, several sources have told the Weekly News. “The field is fenced along the foul lines and there are dugouts,” said outgoing La Conner Schools Superintendent Rich Stewart, who discussed relocation plans with youth sports spokesperson Reb Broker recently. “What...
Going on retreat was the best path forward for La Conner schools officials last week. School board members spent their three-hour retreat May 21 applying the finishing touches to the district’s new strategic plan, a process that has been two years in the making. They worked on next year’s budget and discussed capital improvements and naming two new student reps. That set the stage for formal action at its May 24 meeting. Members unanimously adopted a strategic plan designed to create a learning environment in which the academic and social emo...
It has long been said that dogs are man’s best friend. But now there is a new twist to that tale – rather, tail – right here in greater La Conner. Lori Nguyen of the La Conner Pub & Eatery staff recently brought home a baby crossbreed pig as a new pet and it has quickly become a friend to all – mostly to her eight-year-old son, Kao, but also to neighbors, co-workers, the family cats and even deer that meander into Nguyen’s side yard on Pioneer Parkway in Swinomish Village. Nguy...
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no state basketball tournament this year. But the La Conner High girls’ basketball team, the defending state tourney runner-up, played – and won – four games in four days – similar to the Hardwood Classic format in Spokane – to tip off its modified spring season last week. And one of those matchups, a home clash with 1A King’s High School at Landy James Gym on Wednesday, very much resembled a state caliber game. La Conner fou...
La Conner’s Kali Adams wowed fans by rushing for more than 100 yards and two touchdowns in the Braves’ 41-0 shutout win at Darrington in the team’s season finale. The sophomore running back impressed state athletics officials as well. As a result, Adams was named the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) 2B football player of the week Thursday. Each week the WIAA, which governs school athletics and activities in the state, joins the Gesa Credit Union in recognizing stude...
Yes, there will be a La Conner parade and fireworks show July 4th. With Gov. Jay Inslee reopening Washington statewide June 30, Town Administrator Scott Thomas notified his staff Monday of those plans. La Conner Hook & Ladder is ready to “support and help anyway we can,” Chief Aaron Reinstra wrote in an email. That may be a commitment that their 1941 white firetruck will lead the parade. There will not be a concert or community picnic until next year, however. Maple Hall and the Civic Garden Club can be scheduled, as others already have. Sen...
The Pleasant Ridge Cemetery Commissioners invite the public to the outdoor Memorial Day service this year, following all COVID-19 safety protocols. The program is held at the Cemetery, 17666 Valentine Road, Mount Vernon. It will begin at 9 a.m. Monday, May 31. The Marine Corp League, #1043, Active and Retired, the Reverend Don Robinson, vocalist Judy Robinson and La Conner high school student, Mason Groesbeck will each contribute to the half hour celebration. Skagit Pioneer descendent Laurie Lane will share stories of her family and the potato...
La Conner students are daily taught the power of critical thinking. School officials are also embracing that lesson as they begin analyzing data collected from surveys whose input will help shape a draft district strategic plan addressing key academic and campus culture goals and objectives. La Conner school board members and administrators hosted a two-hour presentation Monday night by Roni Rumsey, director of professional learning at the Center for Educational Effectiveness. She shared insight into how data analysis can play a vital role in...
The La Conner High School Knowledge program is virtually – and truly – among the best in the country. La Conner’s “Chronically Iliad” team competed earlier this month against schools of all sizes in the inaugural virtual National Knowledge Bowl Tournament, placing fourth among entries from 1A enrollment campuses. Knowledge Bowl coaches Beth Clothier and Christi Malcomson said the La Conner team, which “competed up” as a 2B entry, underwent six rounds of oral and written questions...
For decades it has been a tradition for the La Conner High School Alumni Association, the oldest active organization of its kind in Washington state, to hold an annual banquet each spring to honor that year’s graduating seniors. For the second year in a row, COVID-19 will trump tradition – though not entirely in 2021. La Conner alums are being asked if they would attend a banquet and program in September, by which time more vaccinations will have been administered. The fall banquet proposal, along with scholarship donation and dues p...
In a short season, the La Conner High football team went a long way. All the way, in fact, to the top of league standings. Not too bad for a group some thought would be continuing a rebuild under new head coach Jeff Scoma. Instead, the Braves raised the roof and clinched the NW2B championship Friday night with their fourth straight win, a convincing 41-0 shutout victory as La Conner showed its mastery of the Wing-T attack Scoma brought with him from Bellevue. With the triumph, the Braves finished the ’21 spring campaign with a 4-1 mark. Five L...