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As a 1987 candidate for Mayor of La Conner, Marc “Zappa” Daniel was often unorthodox, frequently controversial and always quotable. He was, to use a trite cliché, one in a million. But, then again, he had a head start. Well before his somewhat accidental arrival in La Conner, Daniel had already been one in half a million – among the 500,000 people who trekked to rural New York state for what would become a defining moment for an entire generation. Devoted to rock-n-roll since his...
First a retreat, then some tentative steps forward. That’s the path upon which La Conner Schools Superintendent Dr. Whitney Meissner and leaders of two staff union groups that have rebuked her management skills now find themselves. All parties vow to move in the same direction, serving the best interests of students, but whether they can do so side-by-side remains unclear. The unions have issued votes of no-confidence in Meissner and called for her ouster, alleging she has created a negative work environment, concerns that arose last spring and...
The Hunting & Gathering team captured another photo of a black bear on the Swinomish Reservation last week. Remember that most bears are inherently scared of people and will usually run from human encounters. We have no reason to think this bear will behave any differently. We have not had any reports of conflict (bear getting into garbage, etc.). Please review information from the Washington Department Fish and Wildlife website below on how to prevent conflict with black bears and help us keep this bear out of trouble. Primarily, manage garbag...
For Toby Walls, losing weight was a moving experience. A dozen years ago, at age 33, he re-connected with a former passion – distance running – and hasn’t looked back since. Or, more precisely, Walls hasn’t looked over his shoulder, having earned a slew of medals from various road races and running events on both coasts. Nor has he looked at his bathroom scale quite the same way. The trim, yet broad-shouldered 45-year-old weighs 60 pounds less than he did in 2006. Walls hasn’t done s...
The sky was the limit at La Conner Regional Library Friday. And all it took was an air pump, balloons, string and tape. Not the sort of technology one would expect at NASA or Space-X, but it was plenty enough for the Library’s Katrina Barber to introduce local children to the concepts of jet and rocket propulsion. Barber attached string to a long ladder laid over sawhorses, and extended still more string up the side of the library building on Morris Street for a 45-minute program she tied to t...
The La Conner School District’s summer retreat July 30 included a 90 minute meeting between the School Board Directors, Superintendent Whitney Meissner and representatives from the La Conner Education Association and the Public School Employees. The unions again made their “case for removing Supt. Meissner,” from her position, an Aug. 1 statement from Communication Specialist Suzann Keith, a district English teacher, stated. In their email summary to the community, the unions shared their bottom line: “We strongly believe Dr. Meissner cannot...
Warm weather made for warm memories at the 115th annual Pioneer Picnic in La Conner Thursday, drawing a festive group ranging from toddlers to local centenarian Joyce Johnson. A good time was had by all, especially those who have attended regularly through the decades. Don Wick, one of the more recognizable personalities in Skagit County, has marked the Pioneer Picnic on his calendar since the early 1970s. Wick, then working for radio station KBRC, was assigned to set up the sound system for...
A new Skagit County Historical Museum exhibit highlights the area’s hometown sports heroes. Matt Thurmond, the reigning Pac-12 Men’s Golf Coach of the Year, fills a unique category in that regard. He’s a Hometown Hero 2.0. A graduate of Burlington-Edison High School, Thurmond is also claimed by La Conner, and rightfully so. His parents, Joe and Kathy Thurmond, are La Conner High alums, as are other of his family members. His sister and brother-in-law, Kate and Dr. Brandon Atkinson, recen...
The La Conner School Board passed a deficit operating budget for the district’s coming 2019-2020 year. After months of study and public hearings July 15 and 22, Directors passed the budget unanimously, without comment, at their July 22 meeting. Funding next year will be $300,000 above this year, at $12.9 million, but expenses will be about $13.1 million, for a $179,000 deficit. Expenditures are $200,000 below 2018-2019. This is the third year running the budget has been in the red. The 2018-2019 deficit was $686,000. District budget figures s...
Through cooperation between local agricultural businesses, a new approach to marketing hopes to live up to its promise of being “locally grown, globally known.” Genuine Skagit Valley, rolled out during February’s Agriculture Summit by the Port of Skagit Executive Director Patsy Martin, is a federal certification mark that almost 25 Valley companies have purchased to date. Boldly Grown Farm, Blanchard Mountain Farm, Bow Hill Blueberries, Samish Bay Cheese, Skagit Valley Malting and the La Conner...
The small town of La Conner is often referred to as “the most perfect Washington State weekend getaway destination” and “top of the romantic getaways [in] Washington.” People visit a picturesque small town with a scenic boardwalk, unique boutiques, extraordinary galleries and museums, exceptional restaurants and hotels and welcoming coffee shops. Because La Conner offers so much to its visitors and depends on them as source of revenue, it is important that the residents of La Conner do what we...
History can be serious business, but it also leaves room for fun and games. The proof is in an exhibit unveiled amid much fanfare during a two-hour reception at the Skagit County Historical Museum in La Conner Thursday night. “Hometown Skagit” focuses on how sports have shaped communities in the area, offering glimpses into championship teams and prominent figures from the turn of the 20th century to modern times. The exhibit, guest curated by Briana Mabson, who has a master’s degree in Museo...
“Twelfth Night,” the Shakespeare Northwest companion comedy with “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” at Blackrock Amphitheater does not maintain the sparkle of its sister “Night.” Still, see both, to watch almost half of the cast in repertoire. Director Bjorn Whitney sought to turn the original Shakespearean casting on its head: While the Shakespearean stage employed all male actors, this has primarily a female cast. Whitney does not make clear to the audience in his director’s statement, or on stage, the androgynous, gender bending mistaken identi...
Almost one year after collecting weapons from the public – aiming to transform guns into art, a group of local artist has crafted an emotionally powerful exhibit dedicated to gun violence. Their memorial stones, piled into a cairn, is now on its first public display at the Anacortes Arts Festival. The Memorial Cairn installation is part of the Anacortes Regeneration Project and includes the work of several dozen Skagit Valley artists. La Conner’s Tracy Powell is among those artists, as wel...
The Fisher family name is synonymous with home, commercial and industrial construction in Skagit County. Frieschknecht is a less familiar name, but one that remains vital to bridging the county’s rich history and its present status as a model for balancing economic opportunity with environmental preservation. The Frieschknecht legacy, in fact, is a key chapter in the Fisher family story, which will be shared as part of the 115th annual Skagit County Pioneer Picnic in La Conner Thursday. Their s...
Go see “A Midsummer’s Night Dream,” half of this summer’s Shakespeare Northwest fare at Rexville-Blackrock amphitheatre, for a cast-full of fine performances, with seemingly no small roles. Because the cast enjoy themselves so much, you will enjoy them, too. Festival mainstay Carolyn Travis, portraying first Hippolyta, ancient Athenian royalty, then the fairy Queen Titania, brings a sultry sexuality of desire when caressing Bottom (a versatile, terrifically vain John Roberson), who was turned into an ass for having ventured into the fairy k...
The world and places beyond were well within reach for La Conner area children on Monday. A series of hands-on Space Quest activities, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, greeted kids who visited La Conner Regional Library that morning. Guest presenter Heidi Larsen turned the place into a virtual space laboratory as part of a program designed to encourage youth to explore activities related to science and technology. Larsen set up stations that allowed kids to...
District 10 residents peppered Rep. Dave Paul (D-Oak Harbor) with questions ranging from mountain goat removal in Olympic National Park to sole source water aquifers to replacing traffic lights with roundabouts, such as Sharpes Corner. Paul responded that some issues were federal (goats) or local (water) thus were not for a state legislator at this town hall held July13. There was a long discussion about the Navy’s Growlers on Whidbey Island among the 50 people attending at the Camano Island L...
Thursday U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-Everett) called for impeaching President Trump. Friday he shared his reasoning on the Everett Herald’s editorial page and his congressional website. Responding to the president’s attacks on four congressional representatives, all women of color, Larsen wrote “It is time to impeach Donald Trump.” Larsen wrote “my decision to impeach hinges on that fundamental value of citizenship and the American dream,” The ten term representative, who has a master’s in public policy from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs...
Two families deeply rooted in the historical and cultural landscape of Skagit County will be honored at Pioneer Park in La Conner on Aug. 1. The Fisher family of Burlington, whose many contributions to Skagit County agriculture, commerce and the timber and construction industries date to the 1890s, will be honored as Pioneer Family of the Year during the 115th annual Skagit County Pioneer Association Picnic and General Meeting. The DeGoede family, recognized internationally as innovators in the...
A single bald eagle circled overhead as the canoes began to land at Swinomish Monday. A good sign. It was originally estimated that upwards of 5,000 attendees and participants would converge upon the landing site, located at the three cedar hat pavilion. While there is no clear way to calculate a final number, by all accounts the estimation was not far off. Sunday, Tulalip hosted the journey with a reported 65 canoes landing on their beaches. Early Monday morning the canoe families re-entered...
The short statement La Conner School Board Director Susan Deyo read at the end of Monday’s school district board meeting shed light on the next steps on the path the board is walking with Superintendent Whitney Meissner and the school unions opposing her leadership. “The School Board has invited the leadership of both unions to join them for their summer retreat, where we will continue our discussion.” Perhaps more important than Monday’s session was the one hour meeting Friday between Deyo and Director Brad Smith and La Conner Educati...
Home Trust of Skagit Director Jodi Monroe and Melissa Luke, executive assistant, are spreading the word that homeowners are needed for the five homes that will be built in their Channel Cove development near Caledonia Street and Maple Avenue. They met with seven interested people July 10 in Mount Vernon to introduce their program. Monroe is an enthusiastic proselytizer for home ownership, which she notes “is the number one way in the country to build wealth.” They’re not from the government, exactly, but her nonprofit is here to help, she says,...
The La Conner School District Board of Directors met Monday for their usual bi-weekly study session, but only the schedule was normal. The meeting was held in the first floor board room instead of the District’s second floor meeting room. Director Susan Deyo called in from out of town by phone and Director Brad Smith was absent. And over 30 people, school staff, area residents and a few children attended in response to organizing by school unions’ members. While the agenda was proscribed, with no public comment period, the audience clearly hop...
Danny Hagen stays in shape the old-fashioned way. The 6’-6”, 255-pound La Conner High assistant basketball coach is no stranger to the gym, but his workouts this time of year are done without benefit of the modern sports equipment found in health clubs and fitness centers. That’s by design. Hagen opts instead to break a sweat each spring and summer with heavy stones, large poles and hefty hay bales. In a way, he was born to exercise that way. Hagen reconnects with his Celtic heritage by compe...