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The annual Skagit County Pioneer Picnic in La Conner is not only steeped in history but also benefits local historical preservation. That was reinforced Nov. 1 when the Skagit County Pioneer Association Board of Directors approved presentation of $4,500 in proceeds from August’s pioneer picnic to the Skagit County Historical Museum. The picnic, in addition to serving as a fundraiser for the county museum, has been a summer tradition in La Conner for more than a century. It features a program that honors a Skagit Pioneer Family of the Year a...
Great food, great art, great company, all right in town pleased artists and patrons alike at this year's Art's Alive. Oct. 25-28 in Maple Hall. La Conner Arts Foundation board member Sheila Johnson reported traffic was good all weekend, indicating positive final sales and attendance numbers. All art sold contributes directly to the La Conner Arts Foundation scholarship fund....
Turning and turning in the widening gyre * The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand. The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi ** Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert A shape...
Floral Pumpkin Party: A Fun Night of Crafting & Creativity. 6-8:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 6, at ERTH, 105 S. First St., La Conner. Instructors Riley Banaszak and Mary Lou Page will help you decorate your own pumpkin with dried flower appliqué. $20. Refreshments provided. Space is limited. Call 360-399-1126 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. to register. NITE Theater presents “Legally Blonde: The Musical,” Nov. 8-24 at the Lincoln Theatre. Based on the hit movie, follow the cast of “Legally Blonde: The Musical” as Elle Woods defies expectations. Sensory-...
The most dramatic and, indeed, catastrophic events can begin almost imperceptibly, as a glacial ice sheet melting away or 2023 becoming the hottest year on record, adding to the list of prior years being the hottest ever. For Eilish, a scientist working for a technology company in a bit-in-a-future Dublin, Ireland, the election of rightest nationalists two years before the start of Paul Lynch’s haunting Booker Prize winning 2023 novel is that event. As “Prophet Song” opens, everything is normal for this mother of four, her oldest son a high...
Along with snow geese and trumpeter swans we have many other birds in this area that join us during wintertime. One of our favorites are the Barrow's and common goldeneyes. A white, crescent-shaped teardrop in front of the male's eyes distinguishes the Barrow's from the common goldeneye, which has a white dot in that area. The females have brown heads and greyish bodies. They like marine waters, dive for aquatic insects and small fish and also feed on mollusks on dock pilings. This photo was...
“This Machine is Made for Earth”: The Madrona Project at MoNA. Poets will converge at the Museum of Northwest Art, 121 S. First St., La Conner, from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, to offer a reading and discussion from the most recent issue of the anthology series, “The Madrona Project: This Machine is Made for Earth,” recently published by Empty Bowl Press in Chimacum. Free for members, $15 suggested donation for non-members. RSVP: monamuseum.org/events/madrona-project-nov2. Celtic Arts Foundation traditional Scottish breakfast, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Sa...
It is finally fall and a great time to come to the library to check out a new book or re-read an old favorite and remember, if we don’t have the book you are looking for, we can get it for you from one of our partner libraries. Check out these exciting new books: Coming Soon! local author Shanna Lowe’s newest book, “Lotte Skale and the Wyvern Hatchery.” Lotte Skale and her father run a hatchery for magical and endangered wyverns. In an era when magic and magical creatures are forbidden, their actions are punishable by death. When her father...
The world premiere of “Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers” is one of the many highlights of the 12th annual Friday Harbor Film Festival this weekend, Oct. 25-27. The 16 full length documentaries and 21 short films are shown twice on five screens at three venues. “Fish War” covers over 50 years of indigenous tribal fishers fighting to secure their treaty rights with legal battles ending in the U.S. Supreme Court and now the fight to save salmon. “Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers” producer Philip Grabsky is coming from London for question and answer sessions. T...
The Museum of Northwest Art was awarded a major capacity building grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust of Vancouver, Washington in September to fund the new position of director of curatorial affairs and curator of Northwest art . The new director will provide strategic vision and managerial oversight for the museum’s exhibition program and collection, a position essential to advancing and fulfilling the museum’s mission. This transformational investment in MoNA’s growth lays the foundations for the museum to develop a compr...
Arts Alive! 2024 kicks off its 39th anniversary show “Along Salish Shores” 1-8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25, in Maple Hall, 104 Commercial St., La Conner. Opening reception begins at 5 p.m. Arts Alive continue from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26, and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 27, and Monday, Oct. 28. More info: artsalivelaconner.com. “This Machine is Made for Earth”: The Madrona Project at MoNA. Poets will converge at the Museum of Northwest Art, 121 S. First St., La Conner, from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, to offer a reading and discussion from the...
Though best suited for a Mediterranean climate, figs can be successfully grown in the Pacific Northwest. Gardeners are always looking for a captivating new plant to add to their gardens. One such beckoning horticultural challenge is the edible fig tree. Although edible figs are widely grown in the Mediterranean basin, our climate is too cool for many varieties. However, figs are part of NW Fruit’s experimental planting program and can be found at the NW Fruit Garden on SR 536, west of Mount Vernon, next to the Master Gardener’s Discovery Gar...
If ranked-choice voting becomes a reality in Washington state, you can thank former La Conner resident Kit Muehlman. Muehlman, who raised children, made pottery and taught yoga in greater La Conner for 42 years before moving to Bellingham in 2016, is spreading the word about this system of voting, now used by 60 U.S. cities and the states of Maine and Alaska. Ireland and Australia have been using ranked-choice voting for over a century. A proposal to use ranked-choice voting is on the ballot in Oregon this fall. Under this system, when a race...
Timothy Egan, from Seattle, and Rena Priest, of Lummi Nation, are among the winners of the 2024 Washington State Book Awards. Egan’s “A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them” won in general nonfiction/biography. Priest won in poetry for editing “I Sing the Salmon Home: Poems from Washington State.” Matika Wilbur of Swinomish and Tulalip was a general nonfiction/biography finalist for her “Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America.” Other winners in the seven categorie...
Skagit Community Band presents: “A Musical Passport.” Director Vince Fejeran opens the 2024-2025 season with selections from composers around the world, including Jan Van der Roost, Samuel Hazo, Gustav Holst, Ary Barroso and many more. Skagit Community Band’s two concerts are at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18, at Maple Hall in La Conner, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20, at Brodniak Hall in Anacortes. Free Admission, donation gladly accepted. More info: Skagitcommunityband.org. Beer & Bingo: Skagit Habitat for Humanity Joins Garden Path Ferme...
Last week's article on the Skagit River Poetry Festival ended with us giggling over the smell of ponies; Moses stepped into our lives; and we were stupefied by the violence of war. The Skagit River Poetry Foundation's bi-annual festival Oct. 4-5 at Maple Hall was attended Friday by over 130 students from Oak Harbor and Whatcom and Skagit counties school districts, as well as a supportive and paying public. The festival, though, is "just the icing on the cake" said Executive Director Molly...
Surprise! Art’s Alive is two weeks early this year – which looks like a sound decision. With the coming weekend a literal washout and November trending damp, it’s just possible that Oct. 25 will bestow a generous slice of lovely late-fall weather on the annual event, planned and produced by the La Conner Arts Foundation. This year’s show is actually three shows in one. As usual, the Invitational Show downstairs in Maple Hall will showcase eleven artists, five of them new to Art’s Alive. The late Thomas Stream, whose work graces this year’s post...
The Museum of Northwest Art will open its latest exhibition on Saturday, Oct. 12: "Peter Millett: Built Forms." Millett, a Seattle-based artist, has been exploring the mystery of common forms in his artwork since the late1970s. Curated by Greg Bell, Built Forms is the first major institutional survey of Millett's work, which spans decades of artistic practice and intentional engagement with forms in space. Millett was born in Evanston, Ill., in 1949 and grew up in the Chicago area. He attended...
"Wick Peth: 'The Original Rodeo Bullfighter' and the History of Rodeo in Skagit County" opens at the Skagit County Historical Museum in La Conner on Oct. 12, with an all-day reception from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. A world-renowned Rodeo Hall of Famer, Peth was a pioneer in professional rodeo bullfighting. He elevated the sport with skill, athleticism, courage and finesse while protecting bull riders. The first rodeo in Skagit County was in the mid-1920s in the field of the Peth Ranch in Bow. Skagit...
More than 12 Northwest breweries will be pouring beer or cider in Maple Hall Saturday during the La Conner Chamber of Commerce's Brew on the Slough. Besides "the best of the region's craft beer scene," the CC Adams Band will be playing. Get started at 3 p.m. by buying a VIP admission at $50 and earning a more intimate tasting experience. General admission is $40, with doors opening at 4 p.m. The Chamber promises "the top names in Northwest brewing," including Boneyard Brewery, Pike Brewery,...
Hayes and Tate Matty and Oliver and Warner Bohnet-Knue clambered on fire trucks while firefighters and EMTs served spaghetti last Saturday at the McLean Road headquarters of all-volunteer Skagit County Fire District 2. Firefighters and volunteers shopped, cooked, served and cleaned up after hundreds of diners during the annual Spaghetti Feed, whose proceeds support the district's work. Every Thursday night at 6:30 pm these brave men and women practice deploying hoses, operating pumps and...
Skagit Fisheries presents the Wild & Scenic Film Festival, 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, at the Lincoln Theatre, 712 S. First St., Mount Vernon. The Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group brings the Wild & Scenic Film Festival back with a reception at 6 p.m., followed by the film at 7 p.m. The Film Festival will feature short films that will delight the senses and inform our minds. Manieri Jazz and the Anacortes Public Library present Jazz Second Sunday Series featuring Greta Matassa Quintet at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13, at the Anacortes Public...
The Camano Island Library Friends hosts Robert Dugoni for an author talk 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, at the Camano Center, 606 Arrowhead Road, Camano Island. Dugoni is a recipient of a Nancy Pearl Award for fiction. He penned the Tracey Crosswhite detective series, the David Sloane legal thrillers and the Charles Jenkins espionage series set on Camano Island. His standalone books include “The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell” and “The World Played Chess.” La Conner’s Seaport Books will sell Dugoni’s books, including his latest release “Beyond Rea...
Decades before "The Addams Family Musical" played Broadway, another weird family made theater audiences gasp and laugh. And generations before Freddy Kreuger slashed his way around the silver screen, Boris Karloff frightened movie goers as Frankenstein. Theater aficionados know that the Brewster family in the 1941 smash hit "Arsenic and Old Lace" was oddly dysfunctional and frightening in different ways, with a sinister psychopath brother who has had plastic surgery to look like Boris Karloff....
The poets are coming, the poets are coming! Lori Buher is ready. She is one of 20 La Conner-area residents who will be hosting a poet during this weekend’s 12th Biennial Skagit River Poetry Festival. Her guest, Lorraine Healy, is an Argentinian poet-photographer who lives on Whidbey Island and teaches in the Skagit River Poetry Foundation’s Poets in the Schools program. Healy is one of 35 poets, some internationally famous, gathering for workshop sessions, discussions and readings in intimate La Conner venues. The Festival opens at Maple Hal...
