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NOT TO BE MISSED Shelter Bay Annual Garage Sale. With more than 100 participating homes, you can find bargains around every corner! Shelter Bay Chorus bake sale, coffee and hot dogs at the Clubhouse. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, June 22. LIBRARIES La Conner Swinomish Library. 520 Morris St., La Conner. 360-466-3352. www.lclib.lib.wa.us. Open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. Storytime for Children. 11 a.m. Fridays. Tech Help. 3-5 p.m. Mondays. Dungeons & Dragons Club. 3-5 p.m. Tuesdays. No experience necessary. Mount Vernon...
Summer doesn’t arrive for another eight days, but it sure looked and felt like summer this past weekend. After two Sundays of overcast skies and rain pouring down, this week the La Conner Live Gilkey Square concert band Adrian Xavier & Ska Island and listeners were blessed with sun, blue sky, a mild breeze and temperatures almost to 70 degrees. May Sundays all summer long be warm, but not climate change induced too hot. Next Sunday it is Skagit favorite Chris Eger Band. Concerts start at 1 p.m. through Sept. 8. Bring your lawn chair. There is a...
With U.S. post offices closed next Wednesday for the national Juneteenth holiday, the June 19 Weekly News will arrive on a one day delay in mailboxes. The paper will be printed Tuesday. Copies for retail sale will be distributed around La Conner Wednesday morning. Mail carriers will make deliveries Thursday in La Conner and Friday in Mount Vernon....
The La Conner Town Council last week chose to forego the path of least resistance when dealing with future downtown traffic flow and parking. Rather than table action and extend discussion of options for S. First Street, council members voted 4-0 during their May 14 meeting at Maple Hall to convert the historic and narrow route along the town’s popular waterfront to single lane one-way traffic with parking on both sides. Councilor Ivan Carlson was absent. Town Planner Michael Davolio suggested the change go into effect this fall, which would g...
Mark your calendars for some upcoming fun activities. La Conner Guitar Festival 2024, May 17-19. Listen to, play and shop for the world’s finest handmade instruments with three days of events and exhibitions in Maple Hall and evening concerts at the Civic Garden Club. Vendors room open 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Sunday in Maple Hall. Luthiers exhibitions 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday in Maple Hall. Evening concerts 7-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Civic Garden Club. Tickets on s...
What a weekend we had, weatherwise. Saturday was perfect for the Skagit County Master Gardeners plant sale and so tomato plant seekers were lined up at 6:30 a.m. at the county fairgrounds. Sunday was perhaps better, a gift to mothers and their families to make Mom’s day a picnic, or at least opportunities to go for a walk. Highs were in the 70s May 9-12 and after 1.9 inches of rain May 2, skies have been mostly blue. It is almost like Oregon, if not quite California. Maybe we don’t want too much sunshine too soon or for too long. But that is...
Those foam clamshell containers long used by restaurants for takeout food will soon be illegal statewide in Washington. Coffee cups, plates, trays and other food and drink carriers made from the same material – known as expanded polystyrene – will also be outlawed. Single-use foam coolers, too. The prohibition on the sale and distribution of these products will take effect June 1 under a law the Legislature approved in 2021. “It’s a big deal,” Heather Trim, executive director of Zero Waste Washington said of the restrictions. “We have had, over...
The Skagit Historical Museum's annual Sale at the School runs 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday-Sunday, April 19-21 at the Skagit City School, 17508 Moore Road on Fir Island. Museum Director Jo Wolfe is excited about this year's sale pieces. The vintage treasures and collectibles include a room of tools, model cars and costume jewelry and other items from the estate of Daralene Youngquist, who died last summer at the age of 99. "Year after year, people save their lovely items for this sale," said Wolfe....
If this was an editorial, it would be titled "Journalists to the ramparts to save democracy: Buy small newspapers" Journalists, self-reflective navel gazers, are quoting studies that 2.5 newspapers a week – 10 a month and 130 annually – closed in 2023. Is there a future for small newspapers? Yes there is. Here is one way to succeed. In the March issue of the national political magazine, The Nation, D.D. Guttenplan offers a brief lament on the continued collapse of local newspapers, a tragedy stretching back 30-plus years. He follows Nation con...
This year's Tulip Festival is all about traffic – on the road and on social media. Eighty percent of the traffic to the Tulip Festival website comes from people on mobile devices. On its new mobile-friendly website, people can buy display garden tickets, get bloom updates, even check Skagit County weather right from their phones. A large paid media campaign sponsored by the Skagit Tourism Bureau and the Festival has enticed many new website visitors. While "tulips are our crown jewel," said T...
The Town of La Conner’s sales tax revenue was significantly down in December, to $47,549, the lowest since 2020, the first year of the coronavirus pandemic. The total, reported to the town council by the state Department of Revenue, is $15,554, 24.6% below 2023’s record December collection. The special-use fire tax revenues were similarly down, at $4,739, 24.5% below 2023. Tourists were spending less at restaurants and stores, but probably staying in town overnight more, or longer. The December hotel/motel tax collection was $13,915, alm...
Black Press Ltd., owner of the Everett Herald’s parent company, Sound Publishing, is seeking a sale to new ownership as part of a corporate restructuring transaction, Black Press announced Jan. 15 and reported in the Lynnwood Times. That day Black Press obtained an Initial Order from the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Vancouver. The ownership group would include Canadian institutional investors Canso Investment Counsel, Deans Knight Capital Management and Carpenter Media Group, the Times reports. Carpenter has operations in Texas, L...
This modern world. It works against us humans, as individuals, families and communities and in people’s efforts to get along together and build a common place. The norms of living, of doing business, are you aware of how often they work against you? The Weekly News is handicapped in publishing and distributing each issue to you by this modern world. As subscribers, you are customers. The Weekly News’ responsibility is to deliver excellent customer service. Probably the most frequent call to the office is, “Where is my paper? Why wasn’t it deli...
La Conner became a landing spot for bird lovers last weekend. Drivers and pedestrians passing Maple Hall Saturday morning saw a roving raven drawing attention to the La Conner Birding Festival inside. That was Lisa Judy, her black costume complete with wings and a mask with a beak. Judy, La Conner Chamber of Commerce board chair, is lead organizer of the festival. Saturday she welcomed visitors to step inside and enjoy. "We got a really good response," said Judy. "I think it worked out really...
The La Conner Drug Store opened for the last time Monday, Jan. 22, but there were few customers shopping and not much on the shelves to purchase – though that was a years long reality. Late morning, customers were trickling in to pick up prescriptions or transfer their accounts to Rite Aid, the new owner. There was the air of a failed garage sale that was devoid of bargain hunters because there were no bargains to hunt for. Resident Lysa Sherman wandered through with an armful of products, s...
As a long-time (14 years) La Conner resident I have appreciated having certain local services such as a local bank branch, a grocery store, a pharmacy and a local newspaper. It has meant that I don’t need to travel far for services, supplies and information. I like personally knowing the people with whom I do business. This is the advantage of small-town living. Then I read the stunning news of the closure of the La Conner Drug Store! I have steadfastly used their pharmacy for my several prescriptions refusing mail-order offers of ...
Safe and Sane Skagit members drove to Olympia last week to be present as five new legislative bills on gun responsibility were presented before the Legislature’s House Civil Rights and Judiciary Committee. Those bill are: HB 1902/SB6004: Permit-to Purchase that would ensure that background checks occur before a firearm purchase as well as at the point of sale; HB 1903: Lost and Stolen Reporting wherein stolen guns are often diverted to an underground market, making them more easily obtained without restriction; HB 2118: Dealer Responsibility e...
La Conner Drug Store, established in 1877, was recognized as the oldest continuous-running drug store in Washington State by the Washington Board of Pharmacy in 2014 – sometimes under different ownership, but serving its communities without interruption. Fred Martin, a long-time La Conner resident and community activist, owned it for decades before he sold it to Aaron Syring, Pharm.D, in 2006. Now it is 2024 and Syring, founder of Island Drug, confirmed last week that both La Conner Drug and I...
The celebration rollout of the “The Empty Bowl Cookbook,” a new anthology published by the Madrona Project, is 7 p.m. Jan. 20 at the Pelican Bay Bookstore, 520 Commercial Avenue in Anacortes. Twelve writers will read their work along with other favorites from the book. La Conner poet and chef Georgia Johnson, who co-curates these monthly poetry readings, helped assemble this poetry/recipe collection. Readers include Tele Aadsen, Jane Allyn, Anne Basye, Deborrah Corr, Steve Dolmatz, Jessica Gigot, Melanie Graham, Adam Lafayette, Eva McG...
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee outlined a plan to boost state spending by nearly $2.5 billion in the next 18 months with the largest sums devoted to increasing behavioral health services, reducing homelessness, and combating climate change in mid-December. His proposal relies on higher-than-expected tax collections and robust proceeds from the sale of pollution allowances. It would supplement spending in the operating, capital and transportation budgets adopted by the Legislature in 2023. Washington runs on two-year budget cycles with the current...
Rain rain, go away, come again some other day. No, rain please don’t go away, stay so I can breathe another day. We live in a place with a lot of rainfall, especially at this time of year. This month we’ve been surrounded by clouds and drenched with rainfall, but every few days the sun comes out and the cloud formations are breathtaking. As a movie and television director, I had to spend over 40 years based in Los Angeles, although we were filming in wonderful places like Amsterdam, Aus...
La Conner's favorite tourist had a unique solution for the town's vexing parking problem during his visit here last Saturday. World renowned toymaker Santa Claus parked his large sleigh and reindeer atop Maple Hall, managing to avoid damage to the building's solar panels, while greeting local children downstairs and recording their carefully crafted Christmas wish lists. The jolly white-whiskered global goodwill ambassador was the featured guest at the La Conner Rotary Club's annual Pancake...
At the end of October, the only four homes for sale within La Conner town limits were two Landed Gentry residences on Maple Avenue and the two BYK Construction properties on High Street, near Whatcom and Douglas streets. The other 11 homes are in Shelter Bay or near it. Two pending La Conner properties closed in November, a resale of a Landed Gentry home for $725,000 and an 1890 mansion on Benton Street bought for $1.25 million, On Snee Oosh Road south of Kukutali Preserve a home sold for $1.8...
La Conner’s Art’s Alive! 2023 opens Friday, Nov 10.at 1 p.m. with the opening gala starting at 5 p.m. This year’s invitational artists include poster artist Craig J. Barber, Dennis Allen, Joan Enslin, Deborah Henderson, Kristen Ingman, Liz Moncrief, Janie Olsen, Terri Shinn, Teresa Smith, Christine Troyer and Peggy Woods. To preview all the work featured in this year’s event visit artsalivelaconner.com. The show runs through Monday Nov. 13 at 4 p.m. Forty percent of each sale from participating artists goes to the La Conner Arts Foundat...
Electric bikes are getting more popular and are getting strong support as a very healthy means of transportation. Washington Governor Jay Inslee is a strong advocate of electric bikes and the Washington state Legislature recently approved an appropriation up to $7 million in the next two years to support the purchase of e-bikes and create e-bike “lending libraries.” The incentive program provides e-bike buyers a $300 point of sale rebate regardless of their income and people with lower inc...
