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

More than 500 people crowded Mount Vernon's Riverwalk Plaza last Wednesday, Aug. 9 in response to the Skagit Valley Food Co-op invitation to its 13,000 members and the general public to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

There was food, of course, as staff served up bounty from their kitchen and deli, ending with cake and ice cream. The line to their food booth stretched out 30-people long for three hours, until by 7 p.m. the last of cantaloupe and watermelon was lonely in their trays.

Member-owners and customers came from Samish Island and Sedro-Woolley and perhaps as far away as Vancouver, B.C., and Seattle and all points in between. They sat at black tablecloth-covered round tables provided by the Co-op set up under the plaza's trees. Many brought their own chairs, as they had been encouraged to do. There were jars of flowers on tables, sunflower bunches leaning against trees and flower displays, including an arbor, at the steps near the riverwalk.

Three bands played sets during the 4-8 p.m. celebration on a stage at the south end, near the tulip sculpture. The 4-foot high golden "50" leaning against the front of the stage marked the "golden jubilee" being honored.

General Manager Tony White and Marketing and Outreach Director Nicole Vander Meulen were often onstage, Vander Meulen handing White raffle tickets and White reading off the numbers and Co-op staff handing out dozens of prizes donated by local businesses. Co-op staff and board members were most often in the traditional rainbow-colored tie-dyed shirts reminiscent of the 1960s and '70s. Some wore yellow tie-dyed shirts.

The intergenerational nature of the community was supported with buckets of chalk for drawing on the sidewalk along the Skagit River. An adult may have composed the pink heart encircling the word Co-op. Tri-Dee Arts offered tie-dying and Contours FX painted faces, primarily of children.

Food was also available to buy from The Skagit Table, Slow Food Youth Network and Cocina Sabores. Riverwalk businesses District Brewing and Taste of India were also open.

In remarks, White praised the 165 employees of the Co-op, the board and its progressive policies, including $16 per hour starting wages and that "it is fair to say we are one of the anchors of downtown Mount Vernon. It is fair to say that we love to be here and Mount Vernon loves having us here."

He also extolled Todd Wood, general manager for some 40 years, saying "We are where we are and can do the things we do because of Todd." Wood, and other longtime anchors of a different sort, board members and farmers, spoke during the open mic section offering historical reminiscences. "It took a bunch of dreamers and activists," Wood said, for the Co-op to came about.

And while the Co-op was key to 10 years of "Magic Skagit" protests and celebrations against siting nuclear power plants in the county in the 1970s and '80s, he recalled that serving and selling food was a critical fundraising activity for the store's bottom line.

Longtime board president Frances Ambrose called her involvement "one of the great satisfactions of my life." She remembered dividing up 50 pound bags of rice and flour in the Presbyterian church basement in the 1970s and the monthly meetings as a "real exercise of community and democracy:" debates over stocking coffee and white sugar in the store. "It helped us understand different opinions. It was really about democracy. It is a way for a lot of us to learn new things about each other."

She recalled when there was a play area for kids in the store, because young parents were a key constituency.

Board President Tom Theisen, the longest serving board president, spoke last. He noted the Co-op went from zero dollars in sales in 1973 to reaching $25 million by the end of this year. "In the next 50 years we can go from $25 million to $50 million, sire we can," he said, "with family, friends and community."

Grandchildren of children attending the 50h year celebration will be there to herald the accomplishments yet to come.

The local bands playing were The Nematones, The Wes Jones Trio and Yogoman Burning Band.